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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



APR 17 iuo-i 




Eiosie deln (Swite erlancp B enziger Brothers, PttblisTiers. 



Belioldthe handm'aid of tlie Lord. 

(SLLucke 1,38.) 



Spiritual Direction 

FOR THE USE OF 

RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES. 
By the Author of "Golden Sands." 

TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH BY 

Miss ELLA McMAHON. 



New York, Cincinnati, and St. Louis : 

BENZIGER BROTHERS, 

PRINTERS TO THE HOLY APOSTOLIC SEE 
1884. 







imprimatur, 

JOHN, Cardinal McCloskey, 
Archbishop of New York. 



Thb Library 
op congrbs8 

washinoton 



Copyright. 



-;:^^:;;7^7benziger brothers. 



From Mgr. Dubreil, Archbishop of Avignon. 
The work bearing the title Spiritual Direction 
has been examined by our Commission. Upon the 
favorable report given us, we authorize the printing 
of it and we recommend it be read by the rehgious 
Communities of our Diocese for whom it is written. 
t Louis, 

Archbishop of Avignon. 
Avignon, September 25, 1873. 

From Mgr. Gonin, Archbishop of Port of 

Spain. 
Gentlemen : 

I have had the pleasure of receiving the copy of 
the Treatise, Spiritual Direction which you kindly 
sent to me. ^ 

It suffices to consider the precious sources 
whence the writer has drawn, I mean the Saints 
and Doctors, to be convinced that this publication 
cannot but be very salutary to pious souls for 
whom it is principally destined. 

t Fr. Joachim Louis, 

Archbishop of Port of Spain. 
Trinidad, January 8, 1874. 

From Mgr. Forcade, Archbishop of Aix. 

The correctness of doctrine and the spirit of wis- 
dom manifest in the editing of the book, persuade 
us to recommend it very particularly to the religious 
Communities of our diocese. 

t Augustine, 

. . -^ , ^ Archbishop of Aix. 

Aix, February 24, 1874. 



4 Approbations. 

Feom Mgr. Mermillod, Bishop op Hebron, 

Vicar-Apostolic of Geneva. 
Gentlemen : 

You are untiring servants of the truth. You are 
about to pubhsh now a small work on Spiritual Di- 
rection which merits our best approval. These 
pages will be useful to souls in learning the secrets 
of Christian perfection. 

t Gaspard, 
Bishop of Hebron, 

Vicar-Apostolic of Geneva. 

Fernex, Nov. 4, 1875. 
Feast of St. Charles. 



From Mgr. Egbert, Bishop of Constantine and 
or HiPPONE. 

Gentlemen : 

There are yet, thank God, a great 
number of souls called to practice the perfection of 
Evangehcal Counsels, in the religious state. These 
privileged souls are like the divine salt which pre- 
vents corruption from spreading on the earth. 
But in the sublime path which they are following, 
they are exposed to dangerous illusions, unless they 
meet with a sure guide for their conduct. The 
little book which you have pubhshed, shows them 
in a clear and precise manner, how they should 
practice the ^'Direction" which is so important for 
advancement in perfection. I beheve it will effect 
much good throughout the religious Communities. 
t Louis, 

Bishop of Constantine and of Hippone. 
Constantine, December i, 1875. 



Approbations. c 

Feom Mge. Grokleau, Bishop of Eveeaux. 

• • • • • This book, written clearly and with 
unction, shows the author to be one of wise experi- 
ence in the conduct of souls. We willingly add Our 
approbation to that of Our Venerable colleagues, in 
favor of this work. 

t Feangis, 

Bishop of Evreaux. 
Evreaux, December 15, 1S73. 



Feom Mge. Becel, Bishop of Vannes. 
Gentlemen : 

I will recommend to the reHgious communities 
of my^ diocese, the little work entitled Spiritual 
Direction. They will find in it wise counsels. 
May my humble commendation please the pious 
writer, and contribute to the success of his works. 

t Jean-Maeie, 
Vannes, December 16, 1875. Bishop of Vannes. 

Feom Mge. Mabile, Bishop of Veesailles. 
By ordef of Mgr. the Bishop of Versailles, I have 
read the little work entitled *' Spiritual Direction 
for the use of rehgious communities." 

This work appears to me to contain correct doc- 
trine, substantial and of a nature to keep up the spirit 
of piety in the communities for which it is destined. 
The Canon-Dean of the Chapter. 

BoRMAND, Char.V.G. 
Having read the report of M. the Dean of the 
Chapter, We approve this little work. 

t Pierre, 

Bishop of Versailles. 
Versailles,[December 23, 1873. 



PREFACE. 



Obedience," says St. Augustine, "is the 
fiery chariot into which the Prophet Ehas en- 
tered and in which he was swiftly borne to hea- 
ven Happy the souls who enter this chariot 
with no other thought than to continue in it 
and allow themselves to be borne upward " 

After all, what matters a more or less com- 
modious position ? 

What matter more or less violent shocks 
since we know we are on the route that each 
moment brings us nearer the goal, and that 
the guide whatever his exterior bearine- 
language, inanner of speaking, is himself 
guided by the spirit of God ? 

Our only care must be not to abandon 
the chariot which is bearing us on to the 
goal. 

II. 

The road of obedience is sure, but some- 
times difficult : and in the road to Heaven 
as m every other, the sun parches and burns 
us, the dust stifles us, we are bruised by the 
stones, and pierced by the thorns. There 
are times during the journey when every- 
thing seems lost Clouds envelope the 



8 Preface. 

chariot; it experiences rude shocks, the 
guide himself seems to us astray, and dis- 
couraged and frightened we would turn 
from the path. 

God foresaw all these discouraging trials, 
and to alleviate them He has placed along 
the route shelters in which we may rest, 
springs at which we may be refreshed. God 
foresaw all these discouraging trials, and 
to alleviate them He has willed that the 
guide in charge of the chariot should be 
Guide and Father in one. 

As Guide, he causes it to move, and impels 
it forward. As Father, he loves us, consoles 
us, encourages us. 

HI. 

The object of this work useful to all pious 
souls though intended principally for relig- 
ious communities, is to set forth the mission 
of Guide and Father which God has confided 
to Superiors, 

The sentiments of a father are never ab- 
sent from the heart of a superior, but they 
are particularly manifested in those hours of 
converse which, under the name of direction^ 
draw to his own heart the hearts of those 
who submit themselves to him. 

Ah ! would we might make direction 
known and loved. How the trials of the re- 



Preface, p 

ligious life would then be sweetened ! Doubt- 
less they would not cease, for they enter into 
God's designs for our sanctification, but 
with what resignation they would be borne 
and how meritorious they would be ! 

IV. 

All that we have said is gathered from 
the writings of Saints and Doctors of the 
Church. The works of Tronson, the Mys- 
tical Theology of Schram, the Ascetic Guide 
by Scaramelli, Z^/e-Z^^ /r^2?^' sur la direction, 
par Mgr. Rey, Bishop of Annecy — the works 
of R Surin, of P. Grou, of P. St. Jure, of St. 
Francis de Sales, the different treatises of 
Rodriguez, and various ascetic works, all 
approved bythe Church, have served us as 
guide and furnished the most beautiful 
pages of our book. 

Therefore we offer it with confidence to 
pious souls, humbly asking a few prayers 
from those whose hearts we shall have ex- 
panded. 



CONTENTS. 

Preface _ ^ 

Definition of Spiritual Direction 15 

Chapter l.~Necessity of a Director, 

1st. For persons called to perfection 22 

Proofs furnished by authority .'.*.*.* 22 

Proofs furnished by reason *. 1 * ^ * ! 28 

From the nature of a perfect life. .*. . 28 
From obstacles encountered in this 

life.,..., ,.., 28 

From illusions encountered in this 

life. . „ 3Q 

From the maladies incident to this 

life ^2 

2d. For all states and conditions ....*.*.*! * .* .* . ^6 

3d, For all times and seasons , * * * ' 41 

4th. For all kinds of actions * . '. 41 

Chapter II, —Advantages 0/ Direction. 

1st. For communities 4. 

2 ''. For individuals : 

It opens the heart 48 

It dilates the heart 40 

It gives peace co 

It causes one to advance in virtue . . 53 
It causes one to taste the joys of holy 

friendship ce 

Chapter llL-^Choice of a Director, 

An appointed Director 61 

Freedom in the choice of a Director. . ' * 71 

Prayer to ask of God a Director. ...!!!!.*.*!! 8«; 



1 2 Contents, 

Chapter IV. — Abuse of Direction. 

1st. A multiplicity of Directors 86 

2d. Changing Directors 9*^ 

3d, Relations with a Director: 

Attachment for a Director 9^ 

Dislike for a Director loi 

Reserve with a Director 104 

Chapter V. — Duties of the soul directed. 

1st. To pray much for her Director 112 

2d. To seriously will to become better 1 14 

3d. To be simple 1^5 

4th. To be obedient . . ..- 118 

5th. To be discreet 123 

6th. To be humble 126 

7th. Summary 13^ 

8th. A few counsels 132 

Chapter N\.— Objections to Direction. 

1st. Sources of these objections - - - - . ^34 

2d. Answers to the principal objections: 

My Director is not a priest 136 

My Director is not a saint 137 

My Director is too young 138 

I find nothing to say 139 

I cannot open my heart 140 

My Director is not discreet 141 

My Director says nothing to me, or 

continually reproaches me 144 

I am dissatisfied after receiving direc- 
tion ; - 146 

I prefer to seek my direction in writ- 
ing 150 

I fear to weary my Director 151 



Contents. 
Chapter Vll,— Mailer of Direction. 



n 



1st. General principles on the matter of direc- 
tion 153 

ad. Subjects which may serve as matter of 
direction: 

A virtue to be acquired .... 161 

Actions 163 

Temptations 164 

Trials 167 

Inclinations and disposition 169 

Of the body 1 70 

Of the soul 171 

Of the mind 1 73 

Daily Life 1 74 

General formula 1 76 

Chapter VIII. — Pa^^ticular counsels for Direction. 

1st. Character of pious persons 186 

2d. Different slates of pious persons .... 190 

3d. How pious persons should bear them- 
selves in these different states 193 

4th. Rules for discerning the spirit of God ig^ 

Chapter YK..— Practice of Direction. 

1st, Direction: On humility 201 

2d. Direction: Counsels on piety 213 

3d. Direction: On laxness 216 

Conclusion.— Z>^^/n;/^ of St. Liguori. 

1st. On the general necessity of direction 222 

2d. On the particular necessity of direction 

for scrupulous souls 223 

3d. On obedience to one's Confessor 233 



14 Contents. 

APPENDIX. 
Two Letters of Marie Lataste. 

1st. Letter : Necessity of a Director 235 

2d. Letter ; How we should act towards a Di- 
rector 241 

Letter of St. Ignatius on Obedience.. 245 



PRELIMINARY CHAPTER. 

DEFINITION NATURE DIVISION OF THE 

TREATISE. 

J. 

Definition and Nature of Spiritual Di- 
rection. 

Spiritual direction means '*a summary 
of the counsels which a person, experienced 
in the ways of God and the science of the 
Saints, gives to a soul which asks for them in 
order to advance in perfection." 

Observations upon the words of the definition. 

We say ist, a summary of the counsels, for 
an occasional counsel or decision does not 
constitute spiritual direction. Direction is 
a series of counsels, teachings, encourage- 
ments which, while allowing the soul perfect 
freedom to act for herself, never leaves her 
alone. A director is a guide, and a guide 



1 6 Preliminary Chapter, 

not only shows the way but accompanies us 
the length of the route. 

zdi^ An experienced person : such a person 
may be a confessor, a superior a layman, or 
even a friend ; but he must always have the 
experience afforded by age, study, practical 
life, and the authority which his position or 
his well known devotion gives him. 

3d, ^ soul which asks counsel: Direction 
not being, as we shall show later, of rigid 
precept, a soul that wishes to be guided 
must ask for direction, or voluntarily submit 
in her community, to all that the rule pre- 
scribes concerning direction. 

4 th, 7^ order to advance in perfection : The 
end of direction is particularly, perfection. 

We have not here to examine how far 
eveiy Christian is bound to perfection by 
these positive words of Jesus Christ : *^'Be you 
perfect as also your heavenly Father is per- 
fect." '' Thou shalt love the Lord thy God 
with thy whole heart, with thy whole soul, 
and with all thy strength; '' but all admit as 
certain, that persons living in a community 
and taking religious vows, are obliged to 
tend to perfection, and that direction, as we 
are about to explain, is a great means of at- 
taining thereto. 



Preliminary Chapter, ij 

Though our work may be useful to all 
Christians, we are writing it particularly for 
persons consecrated to God. 

II. 
Division of the Treatise. 

1 . Necessity of Direction. 

2. Advantages of Direction. 

3. Choice of Director. 

4. Abuse of Direction. 

5. Duties of the soul Directed. 

6. Objections to Direction. 

7. Matter of Direction. 

8. Particular counsels on Direction. 

9. Practice of Direction. 



CHAPTER FIRST. 

Necessity of Direction. 

Direction, as we have defined it, may be 
independent of confession, * and as in some 
communities it is given by other than a 
confessor, it is not absolutely necessary for sal- 
vation. 

The counsels of a confessor,— religious 
instructions, — spiritual books, generally in- 
dicate sufficiently the means to avoid sin and 
obtain salvation. 

But we can say without exaggeration, that 
except in particular and very rare cases, di- 
rection is necessary to attain the perfection 
which the religious state requires. 

It is the doctrine of the founders of all 
Orders who in their constitutions have pre- 
scribed the obligation of spiritual direction. 

It is the thought of the Church which has 
approved these constitutions. 

It is the teaching of the Doctors who say 

* The direct end of confession is to purify the soul from its 
sins. The direct end of direction is to make it advance m vir- 
tue, by indicating the means of overcoming faults and natural 
inclinations which might lead it to sin. 



Necessity of Direction, ig 

that God, though able to guide souls by His 
inspirations alone, has,nevertheless,not willed 
to do so, and has always made use of men 
to form men, either to punish our disobe- 
dience and overcome our pride, or because 
His fatherly condescension chooses this 
means- as better suited to our infirmity, or 
as St. Augustine says, because He designed 
to thus maintain the tie which should exist 
between men. 

It is, finally, the practice of the Saints, all 
of whom regard the happiness of being under 
obedience to a director as an important 
grace, and have manifested towards him a 
filial and complete submission which, to us, 
is truly astonishing. " All have been led in 
this way, " says St. Dorothy, ' ' and if, '' adds 
Tronson, " God has sometimes dispensed a 
few from it, it has only been in rare cases ; 
nor are we aware that He has ever done it 
without verifying the dispensations with 
many miracles and wonders, and He has 
thus dispensed souls, only when there was 
no one at hand to direct them. Therefore, 
though the miracles performed by a person 
were to equal the number of his actions, his 
sanctity would be doubtful if, being able to 
have a director, he did not submit to his 
guidance." 



20 Necessity of Direction, 

" It may happen, '' says Schram, ** by an 
extraordinary providence, or, in default of a 
suitable person to guide the soul, or simply 
because God wishes to grant this singular 
grace, it may happen that He will deign to 
guide and direct her in a more sublime way 
Himself or by means of an angel. For God 
only confines Himself to His laws with the 
right of infringing them, if it be His greater 
pleasure, when an intermediary is lacking, or 
He wills to act miraculously. '' 

St. Gregory, who makes the same remark, 
cites several examples of persons who, having 
no spiritual master to ostensibly direct them ^ have 
had God alone for their director. ''But," 
adds the same Saint, ''these are extraor- 
dinary cases and should not be cited as the 
rule, lest certain souls, pretending to be in- 
teriorly directed by the Holy Ghost, may 
cease to consider themselves disciples and 
aspire to be guides. " 

" If a person, desirous to advance in virtue; 
lives where a director, capable of directing 
him in the way of perfection, cannot be had, 
I have no doubt, ''says Scaramelli, "that 
God will become the spiritual master of this 
soul and will give him counsels and interior 
lights to guide him in the true way and to 
cause him to attain perfection, for the iso- 



Necessity of Direction, 21 

lated soul, on his part, will implore this as- 
sistance from the divine Mercy, and God is 
in one sense obliged to supply the deficiency 
of His ministers. * 

'' If later, however, this soul, so eager to 
advance in perfection, finds himself where 
there are priests, confessors, directors, from 
whom he may seek counsel for the regula- 
tion of his interior and exterior actions, and 
if, pretending that God has become his sole 
and special guide, he refuse to accept the 
direction of His ministers, and claiming 
that God himself speaks to his heart, he re- 
fuse to hear the words of experienced masters 
to whom he may have access, he acts with 
great temerity and deserves that God should 
refuse to guide him, and Scaramelli even adds 
that this temerity should be punished by 
abandonment on the part of God, who per- 
mits him to fall into grave faults. " 



* Witness St. Honore, an example cited by St.Gregory ; he 
was born in the country, grew up in the society of herdsmen, 
and had no spiritual master who could teach him the rules 
of perfection, 

Moses is another example ; God himself told him what he 
was to do, for, being in a desert, he had no one of whom to 
ask counsel. 

Samuel, like Moses, heard God's voice, but because Samuel 
dwelt in the temple, the abode of the high priest Heli, from 
whom he could seek counsel, God sent him to the latter. God 
willed, says Cassian,that Samuel should be an example of def- 
erence and submission, for all those who seek from spiritual 
superiors rules of conduct. 



2 2 Necessity of Direction, 

In addition to these general considera- 
tions, here is something more precise. 

I. 

A director is generally necessary for all 
persons whom God calls to perfection. 

In our blindness, infirmity, and misery, 
it is very difficult for us to attain perfection, 
or for the majority of Christians to attain 
salvation without a Director.'^ 

Proofs furnished by authority. 

*' It is better that two should be together, 
than one ;" says the Holy Spirit, ''for they 
have the advantage of their society. If one 
fall, he shall be supported by the other ; woe 
to him that is alone, for when he falleth, he 
hath none to lift him up. And if a man pre- 
vail against one, two shall withstand him; a 
threefold cord is not easily broken." — Eccles., 
iv. 9,10,12. 

"Does it not seem" writes the Bishop of 

* Some of the words of the Saints and Doctors which wc 
are about to quote, may at first seem exaggerated ; they 
would perhaps be exaggerations were they applied indis- 
criminately to all the faithful buthere they only refer, as 
we have said, to souls called to perfection, and obliged to 
aspire thereto by the state which they have embraced ; these 
souls cannot be saved without having acquired a certain 
degree of Perfection which God requires of each one, and 
which is only known to Him. 



Necessity of Direction. 23 

Angers, ''as if you read in these words the 
history of the incessant struggles of the in- 
terior Hfe and the falls which we sometimes 
experience therein ? But do you not also 
see by the side of the evil, that which will 
correct it: side by side with frailty, that which 
will convert it into strength ? Therefore it 
is a principle of the religious life that we 
must seek from superiors direction for our 
own conduct, and, there is no religious 
community where it is not held an impor- 
tant duty." 

''Lean not upon thy own prudence'" says 
the Holy Spirit : ne innitaris prudentice tuc^. 
— Prov. iii.5. 

' 'Be not wise in thy own conceit : ne sis 
sapiens apud te ipsum, — Prov. iii, 7, 

''Counsel shall keep thee and prudence 
shall preserve thee.'' Consilium custodiet te et 
prudentia servabit te, — Prov. ii, 11. 

"Be not your own master," says St. Jer- 
ome, ' ' and do not venture without a guide 
in a way which is not known to you." * 

' ' Salvation is a difficult science, we must 
therefore have a master to instruct us in it.'' 
—St. Dorothy, f 

* Nee ipse ie doceas, nee sine doetore ingrediaris viam quam. 

nunquam ingressus es. — St. 

i" Ojfzts est nobis auxilio prcefer ipsujn Deum ; o^us est 

aliquo etiatn qui nos inoderetur et subernet. — 



24 Necessity of Direction, 

'*It is the most dangerous navigation ; 
we must therefore have a pilot to direct us/' 
—St. Basil. * 

'* It is a most intricate path, therefore we 
need a guide to lead us and save us from 
wandering.'' f 

In a word, a director is absolutely neces- 
sary. " Without one, " says St. Dorothy, 
^' there is no salvation ; '' — ** without one/' 
says St. Vincent Ferrer, *' do not expect that 
God will give you His grace. "| 

'' Without one/' says Cassian, ^^do not ex- 
pect that God will make known to you the 
way of perfection/' § 

**Ihave never known a person retired 
from the world, to be lost in any other way 
than by neglecting to take the advice of a 
director, and trusting to his own guidance. 
Many even affirm that there is no other 

*Consihi exj>ers similis est navigio rector e car enti.— 

t Sicut ccecus sine ductore, sic homo sine doctor e red am 
viatn vix graditur. — St. Augustine. Si hi qui sunt ignari 
locorum, cum solertibus viarum iter adoriri gestiunt: quan- 
ta m.agis adoCescentes cujn senibus detent novum, sibi iter 
^aggredi quominus err are possint et a vera tram.ite virtutis 
deflectere. — St. Ambrose. 

X Deus nunqua^n suam gratia jn ministrabit alicui, si 
homo sit a quo possit institui et deduci, et non curat alterius 
ductutn a^nplecti. — 

§ Nidli a Domino viam perfectionis ostendi, qui habens 
unde valeat erudiri, doctrinam senioruin et instituta con- 
tempserit, parvi pendens illud eloquium : interroga patrem 
tuum. et annuntiabit tibi. — Cassian. 



Necessity of Direction. 25 

source of ruin for souls, and that when you 
learn that a soul has fallen, it is no rash 
judgment to conclude that he willed to guide 
himself and have no other director but his 
own mind/' — St. Dorothy.* 

'We shall inevitably be overcome, ''says 
St. Ambrose, *' if we have not a friend who 
consoles us in our afflictions, who re-ani- 
mates us when discouraged, who rouses us 
from our languor, who, in a word, does for 
our soul what was formerly done for the par- 
alytic by charitable persons who brought 
him to the feet of Jesus. " 

'*The first thing which God requires of 
any one who aspires to sanctity is, that he 
renounce his own opinion, that is, that he 
humble himself and submit to the guidance 
of those to whom God has confided the min- 
istry of souls. Just as there are very special 
graces attached to submission, so there are 
manifest dangers incurred when we have the 
pride to judge and govern ourselves. The 
interior life is full of obscurities, temptations, 
and pitfalls, and to enter it alone is evident- 
ly exposing one's self to the danger of being 
lost. Therefore there is no middle course : 

^Ne persuademur esse nos satis ad regimen nostrum : 
opus est nobis auxilio prceier Deum, opus est coadjutoribus . . 
nee aliter possit salvari. — 



2-6 Necessity of Direction. 

either we must absolutely renounce entering 
this life, or if God calls us thereto, we must 
take a director, that is, a man lo whom we 
fully disclose our soul, to whom we render 
an account of everything pertaining to our 
spiritual life, and to whom, as God's repre- 
sentative, we render the obedience we would 
to God. ■'— Grou. ' ' Many, " says the Ven- 
erable de la Salle, "■ lose the spirit and grace 
of their vocation because they do not fully 
disclose their heart to their superiors. If 
they do not observe this essential rule, it is 
impossible to guarantee them from the evil 
consequences liable to follow from the temp- 
tations with which the devil attacks those liv- 
ing in a community. These temptations are 
usually the stronger the more souls advance 
in virtue. For when they fervently labor to 
acquire the perfection of their state, the 
devil, who knows that if they persevere they 
will do him great harm, as much by their 
example as by the graces their prayers ob- 
tain for others, continually hovers about, 
watching, as St. Peter tells us, an opportu- 
nity to make them fall. " '^ The enemy of our 
perfection rejoices '' says St. Dorothy, ''when 
he finds souls who trust to their own guid- 
ance and do not abandon themselves to the 
direction of their superiors, for he knows 



Necessity of Direction, 2 J 

that tney will fall like Autumn leaves, being 
alone in their struggle against him, or rather 
in league with him/' 

We could easily prolong these quotations 
which we find in great numbers in all books 
which treat of direction. 

We will complete what we have cited, by 
the following remarkable page from Mgr. 
Rey, Bishop of Annecy. ^^ Experience teach- 
es us that the religious who ceases to fol- 
low direction under any pretext whatever, 
becomes lax, tepid, proud, arrogant, weak, 
sinful. *He falls ill,' says St. Jerome, * he 
does not make his malady known to the 
physician, therefore he cannot be cured, but 
dies/ 

*' Experience proves that a community, 
in which the rule for direction is not ob- 
served, goes ill, it is divided, it loses char- 
ity and religious simplicity — it falls into dis- 
order. It is a fatal presage of more or less 
imminent dissolution. 

* * If it happen in a community that direc- 
tion is no longer practised , or practised ill, I 
would say that such a community has run 
its course, it is lost. It must be regenerated 
and its soul restored, for direction is the soul 
of a community.'' 



28 Necessity of Direction, 

Proofe furnished by reason. 

The necessity of a director in order to 
attain perfection is drawn : 

1st. From the very nature of a pious and 
perfect life. 

This hfe is a divine art by the exercise of 
which we become more and more submis- 
sive to Jesus Christ, and acquire a greater 
resemblance to our Divine Model. 

Like all other sciences,it is usually only ac- 
quired by a knowledge of the elements, that 
is, the virtues of which it is composed, and 
the exercise of the virtues which, to be ac- 
quired and practised demand a more or less 
extended apprenticeship, and a habit which 
is sometimes formed only by heroic efforts. 

Now, who is there, who, when he can eas- 
ily have a master, would wish to learn by 
himself a science which is absolutely neces- 
sary to him in order to attain the end he 
proposes, particularly when the errors he is 
liable to commit m acquiring it may often 
be irreparable, and might, as in the present 
science, led him to perdition } 

2d. The obstacles to be encountered in a devout 
life make a director necessary. 

The obstacles spring particularly from the 



Necessity of Direction, 29 

opposition within us to the practices of a 
devout life. 

Thus, a devout life is a life of submission, 
and in us there is a decided tendency toward 
independence. 

A devout life is a life of humility, a hid- 
den life, and in us there is a decided ten- 
dency to vanity and an exterior life. 

A devout life is a life of self denial, and 
in us there is a decided tendency to sensu- 
ality and sensual enjoyments. Therefore, 
continual effort on our part is required to 
struggle against these evil tendencies. 

Now, who is capable, without counsel, of 
knowing how to struggle, and of finding 
means for the struggle ? Who, without sup- 
port, is capable of not falling off in his prac- 
tice and of not being overcome .? 

These obstacles are also created by the 
evil one, who does not wish that we should 
attain this devout life, and foments troubles, 
temptations, discouragement, weariness, and 
other impediments. 

How again, without an enlightened and 
experienced master are we to recognize and 
baffle the snares of the evil one ? 

The world also raises obstacles and op- 
poses us with its mockeries or its joys ; our 
family, our friends oppose us with their affec- 



30 Necessity of Direction, 

tion, our temperament opposes us with its 
delicacy. Again, how are we to resist these 
seductions, these allurements, these appar- 
ently absolute needs without a counseller, a 
helper, a guide ? 

3d. The illusions so frequently met with in a 
devout life, prove the necessity of a director. 

These illusions are snares by which the 
devil under the appearance of good, endeav- 
ors to lead to evil those who give themselves 
to virtue. 

Who does not know how frequent are 
these illusions and how many souls they have 
ruined ? 

All our actions, the holiest in themselves, 
as well as the most indifferent, may, through 
the malice of the evil one, be fruitful in il- 
lusions. 

They are to be found in austerities which 
we believe ourselves obliged to practice, which 
injuring our health, unfit us for the per- 
formance of our duty ; — in the solitude which 
we believe ourselves obliged to observe to 
avoid the scandals ofthe world, and which pre- 
vent our performing the acts of zeal which, 
our duty prescribes ; — in the prayers and 
meditation which we believe it our duty to 
prolong or multiply, or perform in a certain 



Necessity of Direction. 3 1 

way under pretext of greater perfection ; — 
in the acts of virtue, which we practice, thus 
zeal may be too ardent, humility too appar- 
ent, gentleness too inactive, etc. 

There may also be illusions in what we call 
interior inspirations ; — ^'without doubt these 
• inspirations are precious," says St. Francis de 
Sales, " they are heavenly rays which bring 
into our hearts vivifying light which enables 
us to see the good and incites us to the pur- 
suits of virtue and without them our souls 
would lead indolent, impotent, useless 
lives. 

But who will assure us that these inspira- 
tions come from God, even when they incite 
us to an action which appears good to us, 
if it be but commanded by our rule, or is the 
result of our ordinary manner of life t 

Frequently the devil in urging us to a good 
action and representing it as excessively im- 
portant for our perfection, though it is not 
directly within the sphere of our duty, has no 
other object than to make us neglect a duty, 
yield to a thought of self complacency or in- 
spire us with a feeling of compassion, perhaps 
contempt, for others apparently less divinely 
favored than ourselves. 

' ' In order not to be deceived, " says St. Fr. 
de Sales, ** before heeding inspirations con- 



32 Necessity of Direction. 

cerning important or extraordinary things, 
ask counsel of your guide that he may ex- 
amine whether the inspiration be true or false. 
The enemy/' adds the Saint, " seeing a soul 
prompt to accept inspirations, often suggests 
false ones to deceive her, which he never 
can do while she humbly obeys her con- ' 
fessor/' 

Illusions are never discerned by souls 
about whom they entwine their attractions, 
they can only be discovered by a clear sighted 
and disinterested friend, and even when dis- 
covered, their too weak, slothful, inconstant 
victims cannot dissipate them without the 
support, encouragement and firmness of a 
director, 

4 th. The frequent and unexpected accidents 
encountered in the da'out life make a director 
necessary. 

These accidents, or rather these maladies, 
which every pious soul experiences in a 
greater or less degree, and for a longer or 
shorter period are : 

I St. Discouragement after a humiliating 
fall, — a failure which we deemed impossible, 
— a reproof, or sharp word which we think 
unmerited, or the apparent fruitlessness of 
our numerous eflforts — How are we to keep 



Necessity of Direction. 3j 

up our courage and rise again, without a 
word from a friend who doubtless shows us 
the weakness of our virtue and that there is 
cause for humiHation, but also points out real 
amelioration in our conduct and persuades 
us to continue our efforts ? 

2d. Aridity of mind and heart when in 
neither one nor the other can be found a 
thought, a word, a sentiment, which leads 
it to God. Prayer wearies them, medita- 
tion particularly oppresses and tries them, 
communion seems useless, the exercise of 
virtues becomes very painful. . . How are we 
to continue the faithful performance of our 
duty without a friendly voice to tell us again 
and again that God is not obliged to console 
us, but that we are obliged to serve Him; — 
who will prove to us that joy, consola- 
tion, sensible fervor, do not give to prayer or 
action its real merit, but that it depends upon 
the will with which we act, and our efforts to 
act well. 

3d. Scruples, There are sometimes long 
periods during which by a direct permission 
of God, or through the malice of the devil 
who often makes use of the weakness of our 
constitution, or in punishment for our in- 
fidelities and our little care to please God, our 
mental vision is obscured, we see nothing 



34 Necessity of Direction, 

clearly or positively ; everything we do seems 
a sin ; — a vague disquiet seizes our heart, 
our thoughts are unstable, our actions nerve- 
less; we force ourselves to begin them, we 
leave them through fear of doing them ill, 
we resume them through fear of being pun- 
ished by God. . » We suffer ourselves, and 
we make others suffer. How are we to come 
forth from this night which envelops us, with- 
out a hand which will hold us firmly and 
guide us with energy } Never was a scrupu- 
lous soul cured other than by submission to 
a director. * 

4th. Tepidity, finally, which is more fre- 
quent and more dangerous than scruples 
and discouragement. We say our prayers, 
badly through our own fault, we omit them 
without remorse, we merely try to pass away 
the time during meditation, and our little 
progress in virtue is a matter of indifference 

to us, we do not positively wish to offend 

God/ but we seek our own gratification on 
every occasion, — we do everything in our 
power to avoid suffering, and the end of all 
our efforts is to lead an easy life.— How are 
we to throw off this torpor without the ener- 
gy of a director who, not only shows us the 

* See at the end of the present work the Doctrine of St. Liguo- 
ri on the necessity of a Director for scrupulous souls- 



Necessity of Direction, 35 

danger of our conduct, but impels and holds 
us to our duty and obliges us to perform it ? 



St. Bonaventure thus sums up the reasons 
which oblige a soul to have a director : 

I. **A director is necessary to teach a soul 
what it should know — what it should fly, 
— what it should practice. Books no 
doubt tell us all these things, but some one 
must teach us to apply them to ourselves, 
otherwise our inclinations, our temperament, 
our very passions will modify the teachings 
of books in favor of our sensuality. 

2. "A director is necessary to guide a soul 
in the practice of virtue. Knowledge is little, 
— will is a little more, — practice is every- 
thing; now, practice requires material aid to 
support, stimulate, to revive and encourage it. 
What soul is there which, left to itself, will 
not frequently exclaim: Enough, Enough ! 
I can do no more ! 

3. ** Every soul is a traveller who needs a 

guide. 
*'An invalid who needs a physician. 
**A convalescent who needs some one to 

lean upon. 
''An apprentice who needs a master." 



$6 Necessity of Direction, 

11. 

A Director is generally necessary for all 
kinds of persons, and for every one, "what- 
ever his condition, 

Whether they are beginning, or whether 
they are advanced in perfection— whether they 
have already made great progress in virtue 
and find themselves in the ranks of the per- 
fect. * * 

Those who are beginning, need a director to 
purify themselves ; for as they themselves do 
not know all their maladies, and every one 
is constantly mistaken in things which con- 
cern himself, how can they cure themselves ?* 

Even though they clearly recognized their 
infirmities and maladies, they could not effi- 
caciously apply the remedies^ for they would 
not take the special remedies, or they would 
take them indiscriminately, or finally they 
would weaken their effects by the almost in- 
evitable mixture of self-will which corrupts 
all things. 

' * I beseech you, new plants of God, " 
says St. Bernard, "you who do not ye 

* Illud firmissime tenendum est ditficillimum esse se ipsum 
cognoscere et curare, propterea quod naturaliter quisque 
seipsum amet. — S Basil. 



Necessity of Direction, 37 

discern good from evil, beware of following 
your own judgment ; heed the counsels of 
those who have a greater knowledge than 
you of the artifices of the enemy, and who 
have acquired this knowledge by long and 
repeated experience, by all that they have 
felt themselves and witnessed in others. " 

'*The Devil, that father of lies, '' says St. 
Justinian, " opposes his infernal views to the 
happy success of beginners, sometimes by 
sweet insinuations, sometimes by severe men- 
aces; therefore, they need the guidance of a 
master who will not let them draw back with 
fear, or yield to seductions. Who, without 
experience, can avoid the snares of the un- 
clean spirit ? And who can have the expe- 
rience without the counsels of a skilful mas- 
ter?" * * 

Persons already purified^ afid advancing in 
virtue need a director to enlighten them : other- 
wise they incur great risk of wandering and 
being lost, for, ' ' the way of salvation in the 
gospel is narrow, so narrow and so difficult '' 
says St. Jerome, "that few find it, few enter 
it, — very few persevere therein." 

The road of perfection resembles those 
little paths on the top of mountains bordered 
with precipices, where one can hardly take 



38 Necessity of Direction. 

a step in safety, and without endangering 
his life — hence our mistakes in this road 
are frequent, perilous and difficult to repair. 

We may be misled by books which, though 
good in themselves, may not suit us, or we 
may misunderstand them, therefore we need 
some one to choose and explain them for us.* 

^y per sons ^N^xo'^Q society we frequent, there- 
fore, we need some one to warn us. 

By the projects we form of perfection,, 
therefore, we need some one who will ex- 
amine them. 

By a too ardent or too slothful tempera- 
ment, therefore we need some one who will 
calm, or rouse us 

These are the reasons which oblige us to 
take a guide in the spiritual life, and which 
prove the necessity of direction for those who 
desire to advance. 



* It is particularly in the choice of books that we need a 

director A good book is defined : " one which benefits the 

mind and heart without any risk to the religion or morality 
of the reader. " 

Now a book may be good in itself, yet dangerous to certain 
persons. At such an age with such a temperament, such a 
character,a book will do you no harm: but place the same book 
in the hands of a young person, trust it to a nature a'l fire, and 
the same work will have most disastrous effects. 

" Ascetic books" says Father Faber, " are a terrible power ; 
they can do as much harm as good, and, like steam, when 

they do harm the results are terrible It is impossible to 

weave about one's selfa stronger net of gross illusions than does 
he who reads spiritual books above his spiritual coE.d'tion,or 



Necessity of Direction. 3 9 

Persons who aspire to perfection and who 
are already advanced, need the aid of a director 
to persevere^ and become more perfect 

Perfection is nothing else but the perfect 
accomplishment of God's will, that is, with- 
out any mingling of our own will, just as 
the saints accomplish it in heaven. 

Now, this is possible only in as far as our 
will is subject to a director who, holding 
the place of God, commands us in His name; 
for then only can we say with Christ, '' I do 
not my will, but the will of my Father." 

We need light and counsel in this state 
more than in any other. 

The more advanced we are, the more 
the evil one multiplies temptations and 
snares. 

** Those who are over others" says St. 
Bonaventure, * ^should submit to the direction 

foreign to his actual wants. To every one who constantly 
reads books on mystical theology, the most ordinary state of 
prayer will appear extraordinary; a convert,;particularly, will 
take common graces for rare favors. Of all realities, mysti- 
cal theology is one of those in which it is easiest to take tin- 
sel for gold. From constantly reading of a pure and disin- 
terested love of God, we persuade ourselves that we have a 
like love in our hearts. Heroic thoughts are contagious, and 
we are soon inflated with them, but, they do not constitute 
practical heroism, they give at most a varnish of sentiment 
to our religion when there is no question of deeds and actions. 
When a spiritual book does not contribute either to make 
us mortified or to keep us humble, it is sure to fill us with 

Eride and turn us from the truth ; its doctrine goes to our 
ead and we commit follies. " 



40 Necessity of Direction, 

of another, in order to act with greater pru- 
dence and judgment; I except not even the 
Sovereign Pontiff." Eugenius III. submitted 
to the advice of St. Bernard. Our Lord, 
listening in the temple to the lessons given 
by the Doctors of the law, gives us an ex- 
ample of the humility, submission and sim- 
plicity with which we should seek and listen 
to counsel. 

No one person has all the knowledge 
which it behooves man to possess, and God. 
to keep us in humility and paternal charity,' 
is pleased to enlighten superiors in science 
and virtue by means of their inferiors. 

*' Suppose a religious possessed of all the 
light you will, he is nevertheless in need of 
a director. Illusions are so easy; a samt, a 
learned man, a wise religious, may be sur- 
prised by the snares of the devil, the errors of 
the world, a false and seductive ideal; for 
this reason, direction is necessary to all. St. 
Teresa was a genius, learned in the ways 
of God, much more so than her directors, 



'* Distrust," adds Mgr Landriot " all those lives filled with 
extraordinary things. Respect what the Church respects. " 

" We may even admire " says St. Fr. de Sales, " what we 
should never seek to imitate, but do not think that the Church 
approves all that circulates in the way of piety. " 

With the exception of a few well known books : the /mz- 
tation, the Spiritual Combat, etc., let us ask advice concern- 
ing all those we have any desire to read. 



Necessity of Direction. 41 

but she nevertheless submitted to their di- 
rection." — Mgr. Rey. 

III. 

A Director is generally necessary in all 
spiritual states. 

In times of fervor, to sustain us, that we 
may not attribute our progress to ourselves, 
that we may not despise, at least in our hearts, 
those who appear to be less faithful than our- 
selves, that we may not take as real fervor 
what is only a passing emotion of the heart, 
or the result of an exalted imagination. 

In times of dryness, to sustain us, to en- 
courage us, to help us to continue our duty 
in spite of weariness, weakness, discourage- 
ment; to practically teach us how to profit by 
this state of the soul and the merits we may 
acquire. 

In times of joy, to keep us in moderation; 
in times of sadness, to uphold us. 

At all times, to keep us in the way of per- 
fection, and to bring us back when we have 
turned therefrom. 

IV. 

A Director is generally necessary to guide us 
in our various kinds of actions. 

We have, in reality, but three kinds of ac- 
tions to perform : those that are commanded, 



42 Necessity of Direction. 

those that are counselled, and lastly, indiifer- 
ent actions. 

For those that are commanded, the Direc- 
tor encourages us, incites us to overcome 
the difficulties we meet in the performance 
of them, — regulates the time, the manner 
and other circumstances necessary to per- 
form them well; and by this double obedi- 
ence, our actions become more meritor- 
ious. 

For the actions which are counselled, the 
Director indicates when they should be per- 
formed or omitted, according to the time, 
the person, and circumstances, and thus 
always maintains the soul in peace. 

In the performance of indifferent actions, 
which are sometimes good, sometimes bad, 
sometimes useful, sometimes injurious and 
dangerous, who can be sure that he is not in- 
fluenced by fancy, caprice, vanity or sensu- 
ality, if he have not a director who reassures 
him by tracing a rule of conduct to follow ? 
Then happy the souls who can say at every 
hour, every moment : I am not guided by 
my caprice or humor, but by obedience. 
— Whether I succeed or fail, whether my 
actions be approved or blam.ed by men, what 
mattereth it ! God will count it in heaven 
for me, for I do it in obedience to His will. 



Necessity of Direction. 43 

Let us conclude this Chapter with the fol- 
lowing words from Tronson : 

'*The necessity of a director, — the ac- 
count we should render him, — the manner 
in which we should depend upon his guid- 
ance, is a matter which flesh and blood 
cannot digest, human prudence can with 
difficulty understand it, the wise of this 
world cannot submit to it, and yet the holy 
fathers believed it of such importance that 
they presented it to Christians as you pre- 
sent the alphabet to children, to teach them 
to read, that is, as one of the first elements 
of Christianity, and one of the first principles 
necessary to learning the Gospel. 



CHAPTER SECOND. 
Advantages of Direction. 

1st. Advantages to a community, 

1. The life, the well being, the sanctity 
of a community depend upon the union of 
its members and the harmony with which 
they all labor for the same end. This 
unity and harmony are only possible in 
proportion as each member with his in- 
dividual temperament — individual faults, in- 
dividual views, endeavors to modify what is 
his own that he may attain to the one mind 
common to all the members of the com- 
munity. 

It is a difficult and important labor which 
can only be successfully achieved under the 
influence of direction and of one director. 

I. 

2. The director who, by the avowal we 
make to him, not of our sins, as we shall show 
later, but of our tendencies, our faults, our 
efforts, and who gradually learns the tern- 



Advantages of Direction. 45 

perament of each one whom he directs, takes 
from one, adds to another, moderates a 
third, rouses a fourth, and thus produces 
a certain concurrence of thought and action 
which in spite of inevitable deviations, makes 
the community one in its purpose. 

Just as the rule to which all submit mod- 
ifies bodily habits and produces exterior 
regularity, so this single impetus given to all 
produces a certain resemblance. 

3. The director knowing the aptitude and 
tastes of each member of the community can, 
when he is superior, so distribute the func- 
tions and charges, so unite different mem- 
bers in their labors, as to develop for the com- 
mon good, all the gifts of strength and 
knowledge which God has given to each 
one. 

If the superior does not know his subjects, 
or knows them imperfectly, he will give 
charges to those who appear capable of filling 
them, or believe themselves capable though 
lacking the necessary qualifications ; he will 
leave two religious together who cannot 
labor in unison, or whose sympathy is such 
that it may interfere with their progress in 
virtue, he will make appointments which 
will perhaps injure the whole commu- 
nity. 



46 Advantages of Direclion, 

Religious administration requires a far- 
seeing and correct judgment, which is attain- 
able only through good direction ; and, if 
this direction is practised as it should be, 
then appointments, removal, changes, every- 
thing, will turn to the advantage of the com- 
munity in general, and of each member in 
particular. 

"After examining the subject before God, '' 
writes St. Ignatius in his ConstiiuHons^ "it 
seemed to us in presence of the Divine 
Majesty, that it was extremely fitting that all 
the religious should make themselves perfect- 
ly known to their superior, in order that the 
latter may more easily direct those who 
are under their guidance, — preserve them 
from all danger, — and more easily provide 
for the good of all " 

"Direction is a double power," says 
Mgr. Rey, " a power of formation, a power 
of attraction. '' 

By wise direction, souls are formed to 
goodj to virtue, to the religious state, and 
perfected therein. 

By wise direction, souls are attracted to 
God by an interior spirit, a spirit of prayer, 
a spirit of faith. 

Now, for a religious, formation and attrac- 
tion constitute everything. 



Advantages of Direction, 47 

II. 

Uniess the direction in the community 
be uniform, it will only result in agitation. 
There will be many individual efforts, few 
general results, many virtues and even indi- 
vidual sanctity, but little general edification. 

Unless direction be uniform there will be 
a universal discomfort, but little accord, in 
spite of good will on the part of the mem- 
bers, no love for one another, notwithstand- 
ing exterior marks of politeness and even 
acts of charity. 

Unless direction be uniform, the commu- 
nity will be divided by parties, particular 
friendships will abound, and perhaps, even 
cabals. 

In direction, complaints, murmurs, mis- 
understandings, resentments, little prejudices 
are buried never to re-appear again. 

We seek direction with our heart embit- 
tered, we unburden our soul with perfect free- 
dom, and we return to our labors, if not 
cured, at least calmed and strengthened, 

A year of direction faithfully accepted by 
a whole community would completely trans- 
form it. 

And if novitiates are more fervent, it is 
because they observe the rule concerning di- 
rection with greater simplicity and regularity. 



48 Advantages of Direction, 

1st. Advantage to the individual. 

I. 

Direction opens the heart. 

Direction is also called opening the heart, 
and in this respect it is particularly advanta- 
geous. 

There are times in life when the heart has 
need to unburden itself. 

It is oppressed with a burden, sometimes 
of memories, — regrets, — weariness, — temp- 
tations,— sadness, — a need to love which 
tortures it with a dull pain and makes life 
weary and hard to endure. 

For these trials there is but one remedy : 
an outpouring of the heart- * 

Founders of Orders who knew these trials 
and their sole remedy, have, therefore, insti- 
tuted direction. 

If direction is not accessible, the sick 
heart will seek among those about it or 
perhaps abroad a sympathetic friend ; and 
thence results a wholly natural friendship 
which gradually dissipates its spirit of piety 

* '• He who keeps his sorrow to himself," says St. Thomas, 
"feels it more keenly, for he is much more occupied with it ; 
when he makes it known, his attention is distracted from 
It, and he is much relieved, for the attention thus shar-ed 
with another enlarges his heart and causes it to find some 
sobf^e." 



Advantages of Direction, 49 

and ends by becoming culpable ; or if this 
heart dare not unburden itself to anyone, it 
will abandon itself to sadness, to weariness, 
to laxness, to sensuality. 

II. 

Direction dilates the heart. 

It enlarges it and renders it capable, so to 
speak, of comprehending and embracing 
God. 

Who has not felt at times that his heart 
was sealed against everything ? We cannot 
explain this iron band, which seems to en- 
compass our poor heart, but we feel that 
it closes it to every good thought, every pure 
affection, every joy. Direction breaks this 
iron fetter and our heart expands and 
breathes with freedom. 

It was not only a confessor that it needed, 
but a friend. . . the friend of a religious 
is called a director. No one can console 
himself ; consolation is essentially social. 

Ah ! who may express the joy, the happi- 
ness of a dilated heart ! Creatures pass but 
do not dwell therein ; trials and anxieties 
doubtless make themselves felt but they 
abide not, and leave only their merits. 

A dilated heart is a field where God, un- 



50 Advantages of Direction, 

deterred by any rival, sows His harvest of 
virtues. 

III. 

Direction gives peace. 

He who puts himself under direction, 
places his soul, in a measure, in the hands of 
another who has the divine mission to lead 
him to heaven. 

Then, no more fears, no more anxiety. . . 
The soul has not to ask : Am I in the 
right way ? Have I sufficient contrition for 
my sins ? Am I not laboring under a de- 
lusion .? No, it no longer needs to ask 
these quesUons. It has opened its heart 
simply and frankly, and obeys with the 
same simplicity and frankness :— it is told 
to walk, it walks ; it is told to halt, it halts^ 
Why should it be disquieted ? '' Direction ' 
said a good, devout soul, ^Ms a carriage in- 
to which we need only enter to go straight 
to heaven.'' 

But there are some who fear direction: it 
is not solid, it is not sure ;— there are some 
who disdain it : it is not to my taste, I would 
like other means. , . 

Then go on foot, you who will not trust 
yourselves to God. . . 



Advantages of Direction, 5 1 

^' One cannot do wrong in obeying, '' says 
Rodriguez. "The spiritual superior may, in 
commanding you to do certain things; but 
you 'are sure of not erring in obeying his 
command, for God will only ask you whether 
you have done what you were commanded, 
and provided you can render a good account 
thereof, you will be wholly acquitted." 

*' Servants of God, both men and women/' 
exclaims a pious author, ^^ understand at last 
the marvellous security God has so abun- 
dantly bestowed upon you in your obedience 
to a confessor. O ineffable words! This 
mortal, your fellow creature, is not infallible 
it is true, but you yourselves are infallible 
each time you obey him, and God has sol- 
emnly pledged Himself never to reproach 
you with anything you may have done or 
omitted under obedience. 

*^ Present yourself to him with a deter- 
mined will to accept what he prescribes, to 
reject what he forbids, and I will answer to 
God for everything 

^ ''Do you not understand that this dispo- 
sition on your part essentially excludes the 
will to sin, without which, no act whatever 
can be a sin. And after this, what remains 
in our conduct for the good and just God 
whom we serve, to condemn and punish? 



c;2 Advantages 0/ Direction, 

*' The decision of a confessor establishes 
us in perfect good faith, and were you, in 
obedience to him, to do a thing which seemed 
to you forbidden, your good faith would 
change such an action into a praiseworthy 
deed, and render it worthy of heavenly 
reward just as much as alms-giving or the 
most laudable penances." 

If it be true, as we read in Les Avis Spirii- 
uels, that virtue consists in perfect submis- 
sion to the will of God, — in renouncing 
ourselves, — in distrusting and being detach- 
ed from our own lights, God who is so good, 
cannot but be touched when a soul will 
say to Him : *' Thou knowest that I cannot 
guide myself. I have chosen as guides 
those whom I believed capable of teaching 
me to love Thee ; I obey them because it 
is Thou whom I behold in their person ; I 
come to Thee at their w^ord which I regard 
as an order from Thee; wilt Thou punish me, 
my God, for having tried to obey Thy will? 
If Thou hadst willed me to guide myself, 
Thou wouldst have increased my light ; but 
Thou hast made me blind ; Thou art too 
just to condemn me for having sought a 
guide and believed him as 1 would Thee.'' 

What peace, what tranquillity these re- 
flections must leave in the soul ! What a 



Advantages of Direction 53 

feeling of security, when the Director, on the 
part of God, says : '*Go in peace ! — Be at rest! 
I charge myself with your salvation before 
God!" 

IV. 

Direction causes us to advance in virtue. 

Human sciences cannot be acquired with- 
out a master, — nor can the science of salva- 
tion be acquired without a master. 

Never was a man formed to anything 
whatever by himself. 

God is doubtless supreme Master, but He 
wills, as we have said, to make use of the 
mmistry of man in the sanctification of man, 
and He tells us as he did Saul: ^' Go to An- 
anias, he will tell thee what thou must do. " 

Direction raises us when we have fallen, 
encourages us, stimulates us, and gives good 
example ; — its work is more minute than 
that of confession ; it studies the exterior 
conduct and brings to our attention faults 
which we overlook. It acts in concert with 
the soul in its efforts to overcome its evil 
inclinations. Direction requires not so 
much humiliating avowals, which are re- 
served for confession, as a knowledge of our 
efforts to overcome certain mclinations, to 



54 Advantages of Direction. 

surmount certain weaknesses, to resist certain 
temptations ; and these efforts, however 
slight, are recalled by direction from time to 
time in order to sustain us, and excite us to 
continue. Moreover, when we know that 
we must give our director an account of our 
prayer and our communion, of what method 
we have followed, and what fruit we have 
drawn therefrom ; — of the penances we per- 
form, and the mortifications we practice, of 
our labor, of our readings, of our relations 
with others — of all our actions, intentions, 
projects, it is impossible that this thought 
should not incite us to be more faithful and 
to devote ourselves more earnestly to the 
pursuit of virtue. 

All that not only Saints, but also philoso- 
phers, seeking only to perfect human nature, 
have said of the advantages of particular exa- 
men,that is, of that daily introspection of the 
soul seeking its failings to repair them,— 
its weaknesses to avoid them, — good actions 
to perfect them, — may be said with more 
truth of direction, which is a particular ex- 
amen made by two. The director brings 
to the assistance of the soul in pursuit of its 
faults, his experience, his light, and above all, 
his impartiality, which is too often wanting in 
particular examen. 



Advantages of Direction, 55 

He brings also the support of his counsels, 
the sweetness of his friendship, the strength 
of his encouragement 

Oh ! in truth, even in a human point of 
view, who would not have a friend to care 
for his soul as his mother cared for his tem- 
poral needs ? 

A director is such a friend ; thus does St. 
Francis de Sales name him, paraphrasing for 
him the sweet words of the Bible : *' He 
will be to us" he says, ^^ a treasure of wis- 
dom in our afflictions, va our falls, in our 
discouragement, — he will serve us healing 
remedies to lleviate and console our hearts 
in their spiritual maladies, he will preserve 
us from evil and perfect the good in us, — 
and when we are overtaken with any in- 
firmity, he will prevent its being mortal, for 
he will restore us." 

It will be useful to develop these 
thoughts. 

V. 

Direction causes us to taste on earth the joys 0/ 
holy friendship. 

Direction is the practice of friendship in 
its sweetest, strongest, purest, most consol- 
ing, most useful sense. 



56 Advantages of Direction, 

Only this friendship does not unite two 
hearts so much as two souls. 

And if for this reason it is devoid of that 
natural sensibility which thrills one at the 
mere sight of a friend, it also loses that which 
forms the danger of human friendship : an 
attachment which frequently becomes pas- 
sionate, — asomew^hat sensual enjoyment, in- 
nocent, no doubt, but which nevertheless 
has the effect of weakening the impressions 
of grace, — a too ardent affection which con- 
verts two friends into two beings living apart 
in themselves and by this very fact wounding 
fraternal charity. 

Affection forms the basis of direction and 
of friendship, it is the atmosphere in which 
they both live. But the end of friendship is 
to love and be loved ; it gives and in return 
wishes to receive ; the end of direction is to 
perfect and to sanctify. Loving and being 
loved form only a means. 

The Christian Mother unites in herself the 
two elements which form the essence of di- 
rection and friendship. 

Friendship equalizes hearts ; persons who 
love, would see and feel and speak alike . . . 
and involuntarily this equality is established. 
In direction there is always a difference be- 
tween the soul directing and the soul direct- 



Advaniagts of Direction. 57 

ed. The director bends, inclines, he does 
not descend, he bends to take the soul and 
raise it, sometimes to a degree of perfection 
which he has not attained himself, for he re- 
ceives for others, graces which he may not 
have received for himself. 

Friendship springs spontaneously ; it is 
more the effect of instinct than of reason ; at 
least it begins through instinct, and reason 
only follows afterwards. It has need to su- 
pernaturalize Its mtentions audits motives, 
not to fall into forgetfulness of God and its 
duties. — Direction, particularly in religious 
communities, is accepted, reasons, questions, 
and cannot live and bear fruit but by the 
spirit of faith. 

The ties of both have a different source : 
sympathy is the bond of friendship, faith is 
the bond of direction, but they both become 
equally sweet and powerful. The spirit of 
faith is more lasting and less susceptible 
than sympathy. 

Friendship naturally seeks more or less 
mutual pleasure and enjoyment. It must 
have become very holy before it can deter- 
mine to pain a friend with a correction ; it 
is difficult for it to understand that it must 
sometimes wound in order to heal. Direc- 
tion seeks only the sanctification of a soul, 



58 Advantages of Direction. 

and in administering a reproof, carefully no 
doubt, and with all the sweetness of charity, 
loses sight of the pain it causes, in the result 
it would obtain, viz.: the perfection of the 
soul confided to its care. 

Friendship is one of the charms of life ; 
when it unites two hearts they seem raised 
above all sorrows. Direction has not this 
charm which, in a human sense, may be 
translated emotion. It is even painful at 
times, for it is a duty, and God has attached 
some pain to duty to make it richer in merit, 
but how sweet are the joys it brings to the 
soul ! 

The soul is at peace concerning the past ; 
she has sincerely laid bare her spiritual con- 
dition ; her wounds have been healed ; think 
no more of the past, she is told, and she tran- 
quilly obeys. 

The soul is at peace concerning the future; 
she knows that this guidance is leading her 
to heaven, and, notwithstanding the anx- 
ieties which may sometimes trouble her, she 
can say with confidence: God will not per- 
mit obedience to direction to lead me astray. 

The soul is at peace concerning the pres- 
ent, she feels that she has the support of a 
strong, pure friendship, even though no word 
of affection be uttered, and that her 



Advantages of Direction. 59 

weaknesses, her faults, or even her wayward- 
ness can never weaken this friendship while 
she continues to be simple, docile, humble 
and confiding. 

How could she not be happy ? 
* * 

Finally to conclude : 

1st. Direction causes us to see our faults, 
and helps us to correct them . 

2d. It is a sovereign remedy against all 
temptations. *'The humility which leads us 
to make known our temptations is so pleasing 
to God/' says Cassian, "that not on^y does He 
cause us to find in it a remedy for our trou- 
bles, but frequently, even before the Director 
has spoken, the evil one loosens his hold and 
the temptation vanishes. 

3d. It enables us to practice virtue with 
greater facility, and preserves us from the il- 
lusions of our own mind. " What must one do 
to advance in virtue r said a young religious 
to St. Antony:— "Let yourself be guided, and 
obey f replied the Saint. 

4th. It renders us constant in our good res- 
olutions, for the obligation alone, of render- 
ing an account of all our actions, is a powerful 
incentive to do well. 



6o Advantages of Direction, 

5th. It is a great source of consolation in 
the trials and critical situations in which we 
sometimes find ourselves, because of the sup- 
port, encouragement and counsel we re- 
ceive. 

After reading these two Chapters, may we 
not conclude that there ought to be very few 
souls who should refuse to submit to direc- 
tion r 

No, there are none among you, dear souls, 
who, though weak, even culpable, and filled 
with a thousand faults perhaps, yet have a 
good will, and desire at any price to please 
God and become Saints. 

llie few who rebel against direction, who 
ridicule it, and seek to turn others from it, 
are proud souls, convinced of their own suffi- 
ciency— slothful, sensual souls, taking little 
pains to advance^ — touchy, suspicious souls, 
fearing to be too well known, to be reproved' 
to be too little appreciated, and who silence 
their conscience with : Direction after all is 
not commanded under pain of sin. 

We will return later to these poor souls 
who voluntarily resist God's voice calling 
them to perfection. 



CHAPTER THIRD. 

Choice of a Director. 

The director may be the confessor or 
another priest, or finally, in communities, 
the superior, who may not, or who cannot 
be a priest, as in communities of women. 

In communities, the director is usually 
appointed ; outside of communities, one is 
free to choose a director. 

I. 
An appointed Director. 

This Chapter specially concerns communi- 
ties. Here the choice of a director is made 
by the rule which prescribes that every re- 
ligious shall at certain fixed times go to his 
or her director to give him what St. Francis 
de Sales calls '' the account of the month," 
and what in other communities is called, 
account of '' conscience." We know all the 
complaints and objections to which this ob- 
ligation of manifesting one's soul to a person 



62 Choice of a Director. 

appointed gives rise. We will answer some 
of these objections later.''' When there is 
question of confession, onr spirit of faith, 
which is livelier and stronger in the recep- 
tion of the sacraments, enables us to over- 
come any natural repugnance ; then too the 
confessor is not seen, and does not see, but 
when there is question of that manifestation 
of conscience which, in seme communities 
is a teteatete, there are temperaments which 
cannot bring themselves to speak or reply. 
Direction, to some souls, is real torture ; in 
these cases, it might perhaps, be well for 
superiors to dispense such souls tempor- 
arily from this point of the rule. Freedom 
of heart is the essence of directios ; " di- 
rection/' says Father Faber, '' should be free 
as air," 

The time given to this exercise m.ay be 
spent m giving counsel, encouragement, or 
even in pious reading. 

Prayer on the part of the director and 
the soul directed will end by bringing about 
that confidence which cannot be forced, but 
is a grace of God. Happy are confiding 
souls, particularly in religion ! 

To souls whose temperament makes it 
repugnant for them to seek direction in the 

* See Chapter vi. 



Choice of a Director, 63 

usual vray, I shall simply say : Try to over- 
come yourselves through a spirit of faith, pre- 
pare in writing, if necessary, what you have 
to say, and remember that this direction, 
which costs you so much to seek, is the safest 
and most meritorious. 

The following reflections apply equally to 
the ordinary confessor, who is also appointed, 
and about whom the evil one accumulates 
difficulties which appear insurmountable. 

Here also we understand how painful is 
this forced confidence, so to speak ; it is per- 
haps one of the heaviest crosses of the relig- 
ious life, when God permits it to be imposed. 
But, poor soul, bending under its weights, 
what a continual occasion of merit it will be 
for you, if you accept with resignation ! 
How it will cause God to forget your fre- 
quent resistance to grace, your infidelity to 
good inspirations, your frequent seeking of 
self, even in your pious exercises, and former, 
perhaps too human attachments, which you 
sought with so much eagerness! 

No doubt, the very fact, sometimes, that 
a confessor or director is appointed, prevents 
our findmg in him, whatever his merits, that 



64 Choice of a Director, 

sympathy which cheers the soul ; it creates 
even a certain restraint, which paralyzes the 
frank confidence we would give him, and 
a certain repugnance which, if allowed to 
grow, gradually becomes unconquerable... 
But this confessor and this director are sent us 
by God to sanctify us, and God tells us : *'I 
desire that thou shouldstgo to him, he has 
for thy soul all the graces which at this 
present moment are necessary for it, go to 
him, then, and heed him/' 

Do you think that if you seek direction, 
or go to confession under obedience, doing 
all that depends upon you lo fulfil your 
duty, God will not reward you for this al- 
most heroic act ? 

Wait patiently, labor in difficulties and 
tears, carefully hiding from others all that 
you sufi"er, and when the proper time shall 
have come, God will send you, either during 
the Ember days, or a retreat, or in a wholly 
providential manner, one of His angels who 
lias a special mission to restore, strengthen 
and comfort souls, and who in an hour, 
thanks to the preparation your soul has un- 
dergone through resignation, will make you 
advance more than you would in a whole 
year of confession and direction in accor- 
dance with your desires. 



Choice of a Director. 65 

How often must pious persons be told 
that he who has charge of their soul, direc- 
tor or confessor, is only the channel of God's 
light and grace. And he whom God 
sends, has for them the graces of sanctifica- 
tion and perfection which they now require. 

Then, understand what God asks of you. 
It is neither the sanctity of your director, 
nor the confidence he inspires, but your 
docility, which will save you. You will per- 
haps allege that, if St. Teresa had not had an- 
other director she would probably have 
been lost. But remember, ist, that God 
gave her another, as he will you, w^hen the 
proper time comes, were it necessary to bring 
one from a distant country ; 2d, God 
rewarded her for her submission ; 3d, God, 
finally, would never require virtues of her 
which, through a want of knowledge, she 
might have been unable to practice. 

Hear, moreover, St. Teresa's avowal in her 
own words ; ^' The guidance of my director 
was very injurious to me ... . but that was 

no excuse for me before God and I 

think God permitted, in punishment of my 
sins, that my directors should be deceived 
themselves and deceive me , . . . " See what 
she adds after this avowal : '^ When His 
Divine Majesty commanded me somethin- 



66 Choice of a Director. 

in prayer, and my confessor told me the 
contrary, God recommended me to obey 
my confessor/' Let these words be your 
great rule. *' God," continues St. Teresa, 
*' brought it about that my confessor after- 
ward commanded me what His Divine 
Majesty had told me to do. God wished 
me to conceal nothing from my confessor, 
Here is a great safeguard/' 

Sometimes, because of our imagination, 
our prejudices, our inconstancy, our love 
of novelty, and the need we have of sensible 
impressions to believe we are advancing, we 
seem to profit more by the extraordinary 
director of inferior merit, than by the 
ordinary confessor, who no longer produces 
any sensible effect in us. That may be ; 
but do you know the reason ? Tt is because 
your ordinary confessor has prepared your 
soul in spite of you, and without your knowl- 
edge. . , , God rarely works sudden miracles. 
He wishes that the soil be prepared for Him. 

We must give here, in relation to the 
direction of Superiors in communities of 
women, a few pages, full of practical teach- 
ing, from Letires sur la Vie Religieuse : 

"You will remit the care of your conscienco 
to the priest ; you will go to him at certain 
fixed periods, that is, every fortnight, to lay 



Choice of a Director, 67 

your faults at his feet and to receive his 
counsels and the precious succors of his 
ministry ; but is it to him also that you 
should address yourself for what we more 
specially call ^/r^r//<9;^/^ No, my dear daughter; 
religion, which knows your wantSj your 
weakness, your constant need of succor, has 
placed near you a permanent guide, who is 
ever within your reach ; this guide is your 
superior, she is the source you must seek, 
the torch which must burn to light your 
path; and how many claims she has to your 
confidence 1 She is born in your midst, so 
to speak, rocked in the same cradle, nour- 
ished with the same food, she has followed 
the path you are following, encountered 
the same obstacles. The rule is her daily 
study, her ordinary reading ; her administra- 
tion has ripened her experience, she has 
every means of being enlightened before she 
gives a counsel, she is surrounded with the 
confidence of her sisters by whose suffrages 
she has been placed at their head; therefore 
she has every right to receive your confidence, 
to know your needs, and every means of 
satisfying them. 

*' Her ministry, — shall I venture to say 
it ? — her ministry may be even more useful to 
you than that of a priest. He only sees you 



68 Choice of a Director. 

in passing, during a few short moments; he 
seizes with difficulty and hastily, a few traits 
of your character, a few of your tendencies ; 
she sees you constantly, she is with you 
every day, she studies you, she examines 
you, the precipitation of a first judgment, 
is corrected by the maturity of a second ; 
she can more surely confirm her ideas, and 
consequently be more useful to you. 

^' The priest only knows what you tell 
him, he must believe your deposition ; he 
applies remedies accordingly, and may err 
through no fault of his, but because he does 
not know you well. You, yourself, may be 
deceived and represent yourself inaccurately. 
A superior will have a knowledge, not only 
of what you tell her, but even of what you 
have forgotten or omitted to tell her ; you 
will hardly need to speak, your malady is 
already known to her; she has seen its origin, 
followed its progress, calculated its chances; 
she will not be anxious, if^there is no cause 
for anxiety ; she will reassure you, console 
you, dissipate your anxiety, revive your 
drooping courage, or extend a helping hand 
to you when you are on the point of falling. 

'' The priest only sees you at remote peri- 
ods ; the rule forbidding you to seek him 
more frequently without permission, he can 



Choice of a Director, 69 

only see you in the holy tribunal, the time 
he does give you must be short, to avoid 
the appearance of preference, and not to 
keep waiting an eager multitude pressed by 
numerous occupations, who might murmur 
and complain. Therefore he can only counsel 
you hastily, without giving you time to devel- 
ope your difficulties. A superior is with you 
every day, she can give you all the time you 
need, she is constantly at hand, you can con- 
sult her the moment any difficulty occurs. 

Moreover, not unfrequently, by the time 
you reach the holy tribunal, the trouble has 
passed, calm is restored, and you are aston- 
ished at the anxiety with which you were 
filled. Understand then, my daughter, all 
the assistance you may derive from the di- 
rection of your superior. 

"- The ministry of the priest is doubtless 
higher, sacramental graces are attached there- 
to° but the superior also is clothed with a 
ministry, she also has gifts which are proper 
to her : if her ministry is less sublime, it is 
at least maternal. If she is mature in age, she 
will off'er you the experience of her years; it 
she is still'young, she will be more energetic, 
more bold, and perhaps, more urgent in her 
zeal ; if she even is subject to little miseries and 
little weaknesses, let not your confidence be 



70 Choice of a Director, 

shaken; the divine Master willed to place at 
the head of His Church two apostles, one 
of whom denied Him and the other persecut- 
ed the infant Church, in order, perhaps, that 
they might be more compassionate. It is 
also for that reason age and sorrow are al- 
ways more indulgent, for they have acquired 
compassion or experience. 

'^Finally, a true reflection ; if God on the 
one hand promises to reward our faith, and 
our simplicity, on the other, He grants light 
and grace to her whom He sends to us. Fre- 
quently luminous thoughts present them- 
selves to her mind, words escape her which 
impress hearts so deeply that she cannot but 
recognize the effect of the assistance prom- 
ised by the divine Master to those who are to 
speak in His name. Therefore, you will ad- 
dress yourself particularly to the mother 
superior, since she has the mission and the 
grace to guide you/' 

There may, nevertheless, be certain cases, 
and the rule has provided for them, when 
other direction may be more profitable ; the 
prudence of the superior meets such cases, 
and you have only to continue simple and 
obedient. But there is no case in which a 
sister may of herself, unless by express per- 
;nission, choose one of her companions to 



Choice of a Director. 71 

direct her. Her talents, her piety .nspire 
you with confidence ; that may be, but she 
will always lack indispensable qualifications : 
— she has neither the mission nor the author- 
ity for her work, and thus experience proves 
that such direction always degenerates into 
particular friendships which are the pests of 
religious communities. 

II. 

Freedom in the choice of a Director. 

When we are free to choose a director we 
must understand that this choice is not 
usually the result of an impression, an attrac- 
tion, nor to be hastily made. 

It is certain, first of all, that the greater 
number of souls need no other director than 
a confessor, and that in the world there are 
few souls who need take any trouble to ob- 
tain special direction. Confession, accord- 
ing as it is made, the questions of the priest, 
and the counsels he gives, may suffice. Guil- 
lor6 even says that ''usually the director 
and confessor should be the same, for there 
are many things which should only be com- 
municated under the veil of the sacrament, 
and which, nevertheless, are necessary for di- 
rection. This separate direction frequently 



72 Choice of a Director, 

causes great abuses, for while the confessor has 
only a knowledge of ordinary things relating 
to the soul, a knowledge of the heart and a 
hundred little confidences are given the di- 
rector. I acknowledge, however, that there 
may be certain circumstances in which for 
good reason, which I leave to the judicious 
discernment of those concerned, one may 
have a director independently of his con- 
fessor. " 

Even in communities the ordinary and 
extraordinary confessor would be sufficient 
to direct souls, were it not necessary for the 
superior to know his subjects, to replace the 
priest, when absent, not to remit sin, doubt- 
less, but to enlighten a scrupulous con- 
science, dissipate a cloud which troubles one 
before communion, or to form the religious 
to the particular spirit of the community, 
with which the confessor sometimes is not 
sufficiently familiar ; or possibly, even to in- 
cite his subjects to greater progress with 
more authority and wisdom, — or finally, in 
order to give each one the employment 
suited to his ability and acquirements. 

For the reasons just stated, founders of Or- 
ders have established monthly direction out- 
side of confession. 



Choice of a Director. 73 

More care and attention are required in 
the choice of a director than of a confessor. 

When we have only to declare our sins 
and receive absolution, if we are sincerely 
sorry for our faults and firmly determined 
to r.void the occasion of them, and to take 
precautions not to fall again, we have no 
need to be troubled, particularly when it is 
only occasionally that we need the ministry 
of a priest. 

The direct end of confession being to cure 
the wounds made by sin, the power con- 
ferred by Holy Orders, and the jurisdiction 
granted by the Bishop, suffice for the Sacra- 
ment, provided the conditions necessary on 
our part are not wanting. 

The end of direction being, as we said, to 
perfect the soul by gradually destroying the 
faults which rule it, — to beautify it by 
teaching it to acquire virtues, — to enable 
it to fully correspond to God's designs, — 
the director must be possessed of piety, 
knowledge, experience. This is the teach- 
ing of the Roman Catechism. The faithful, 
it tells us, ought to understand how careful 
they should be to choose as confessors, priests 
commendable by the integrity of their 
lives, knowledge, and prudence of judgment. 

I . With piety, which keeps the director near 



74 Choice of a Director, 

the Divine Master, he will attract you to God. 

He will have only the interests of your 
soul in view, your temporal affairs will only 
concern him incidentally ; he will seek 
neither your approbation, nor your affection, 
but lead you direct to God : he will labor 
for you with zeal, for he will understand the 
importance of enabling a soul to attain the 
degree of perfection to which God calls it,— 
with charity, which he will know is pleasing 
to God, a charity perfectly free from weak- 
ness, cowardice, or any material consider- 
ation. 

2. Knowledge will show him your present 
state, — the paths you should follow, — the 
special exercises you should practice, the 
illusions to which you are liable. 

"Our director" says St. Teresa, ** should 
be pious and learned ; but if we cannot 
find these two qualities united, it is better 
to take one who is learned, rather than one 
who is pious but not learned." 

''Of all the wise sayings of this illustrious 
Saint" adds Fr. Faber, ''I know none in 
which her character is better reflected than 
in this." 

'^ I have always believed," the great Saint 
adds, ** and will always believe that every 
Christian should seek as director, a man 



Choice of a Director, 75 

versed in spiritual science : the more learned 
he is, the more beneficial will he be ; those 
who are called to certain states of prayer par- 
ticularly need such a director. I firmly believe 
that a soul called to certain degrees of prayer, 
who consults a learned director, will not, un- 
less she wishes to deceive herself, be misled 
by the illusions of the devil." 

3. Experience of the things of God will 
give more firmness to the director's doctrine, 
and make his counsels more clear. 

A learned confessor may guide a soul in 
all that concerns religion, and prevent it 
from going astray ; but a person of experi- 
ence only can help you to walk in the way 
of perfection. 

We have no need to dwell further on the 
qualities necessary to a director, nor par- 
ticularly to mention with more detail the 
marks by which we may recognize whether 
a director be possessed of piety, learning, and 
the necessary experience. 

Such details might be prejudicial to cer- 
tain self-sufficient souls who judge, compare, 
criticise, and, imparting their impressions to 
others, injure the ministry of those who do 
not meet with their approval. 

What mistaken judgments are created by 



7^ Choice of a Director, 

opinions founded on mere impressions ! 
How many priests have seen their ministry 
paralyzed by the criticism of pious souls 
to whom their general appearance was not 
pleasing ! 

Let us not seek so much, but pray with 
simplicity, and wait ! 

God is pledged not to fail souls who seek 
Him with an upright intention. 

* * 
* 

How will you know that such a person 
is the director you need ? I cannot say, 
but I know that if you are faithful, if you 
pray, if you are firmly determined to sub- 
mit, to be humble, to allow yourself to be 
guided, God will make him known to you 
among the thousands from whom St. Fr. de 
Sales tells us a director should be chosen. 
''Earnestly ask God to send you a director 
after His heart, and doubt not that He wifl 
send you a good and faithful one, rather, He 
will send you an angel as He did the young 
Tobias ; but you must ask it long and earn- 
est^ly, as the greatest favor God can bestow 
upon you, for a wise director is the channel 
through which God communicates all His 
graces to souls/' The employment of up- 



Choice of a Director, 77 

right human measures is, doubtless not for- 
bidden. ** Seek information/' says Fenelon, 
" from persons who are most simple, most 
solid, and least influenced by vam appear- 
ances, and whose conduct leads you to hope 
that you will profit by the counsels of him 
whomyou wish to choose. . . It is even nec- 
essary, if possible, to see and converse several 
times with the director we wish to choose, 
that we may learn whether we can go to him 
with the necessary frankness and openness, 
and whether we will find in him all that we 
need to find. . . Then simply follow what 
God puts into your heart ; good will, sim- 
plicity, detachment from all self interests, 
the fear of falling into hands which are not 
the best for God's designs, finally, confidence 
in grace, will be your guides. 

"' God will see your heart and will give 
you according to the measure of your faith. 
Let your only object in seeking a director 
be, to die to yourself without reserve, and to 
hold to nothing in this life. God, who 
never fails an upright heart, will gratify the 
desire of your soul ; an angel Raphael will 
be sent you. 

" Humble yourself, be detached from all 
your own interests, remove from your heart 
all that could prevent you from being docile, 



78 Choice 0/ a Director. 

and the guide you seek will not be denied 
you. ' He will come, I know not how, 
but he will come/ A conversation, a 
chance, a trifle, will open your eyes, and 
you will see him for whom you are 
waiting." 

A soul under direction may, doubtless, 
find faults in her director ; but if she have the 
proper spirit of piety, she will see them with- 
out remarking them; she will attribute them 
to human weakness, remembering, that no 
one is exempt from faults, — that a fault is 
not necessarily a vice, — that God leaves the 
most eminent directors with even apparent 
faults, that knowing their own miseries, they 
may have more compassion for those of 
others ; — that a man may be very holy, with 
defects, against which he unceasingly strug- 
gles, — that the director, finally, being God's 
organ, we must not stop at him, but rise by 
means of him to God, and that our contempt 
for his person reflects upon God Himself, 
whom he represents. 

St. Teresa was more learned in the ways 
of God than her directors, and yet with what 
simplicity she exposed her doubts ! with 



Choice of a Director, j(^ 

what humility she listened 1 — with what obe- 
dience she submitted 1 

# 

We find in an excellent book published by 
a Dominican, * the following pages which 
may perhaps enlighten some souls troubled 
about the choice of a director: *' For some 
time the soul of Herminie seemed to be 
hovering between several paths ; she went 
from one to the other, not knowing which to 
choose ; she hesitated and was troubled con- 
cernmg her duty. An indefinite uneasiness 
like that which besets a traveller, uncertain of 
his route, impelled her to seek a guide more 
familiar with heavenly things, and more skil- 
ful in sounding the depths of our nature, 
that she might be enlightened by his coun- 
sels and find support in his strength. 

"This change was very trying to her, not 
that she was influenced by these considera- 
tions, more common than we think, which 
paralyze so many souls : what will my con- 
fessor say ? Will I not give him pain ? Is 
not this ingratitude ? No, Herminie lived 
in too elevated an atmosphere for these 



* Herminie de la Bassemouturie, par le P. Thomas des 
frdres Precheurs. 



8o Choice of a Director, 

purely human considerations to reach her. 
Her fears came from a better source, a pro- 
found respect for the Priest. With the pen- 
etration which faith and humihty give, she 
understood all the sublimity of the priestly 
vocation. 

"The miseries and infirmities inseparable 
from everything human, mingled with what 
is divine, escaped her, or at least only ap- 
peared to her lost in the mysterious splendor 
of his divine character. The slightest unfav- 
orable criticism of a Priest, uttered in her 
presence, pained her, 

" If a school friend ventured an unbe- 
coming remark, she never hesitated to say : 
' Ah ! if our Mothers heard you ! ' 

/'Later, she thus retraces for herself the 
mission of the Priest ; ^ Oh! how I love, how 
I venerate the Priest, God's servant, the min- 
ister of the Divinity ; the Priest raised by sa- 
cerdotal grace above the angels ; the Priest 
who daily holds in his hands the Saviour of 
the world, Jesus Christ, whom he represents 
on earth ! The Priest, the friend of God, 
the friend of man, the mediator between 
God and man, and who unceasingly bears 
messages from one to the other : he is the 
dispenser of bread to the poor, of comfort to 
the sick, of consolation to the afflicted. He 



Choice of a Director. 81 

is ever, and at all times, the father and the 
providence of all. 

*'At our birth the Priest makes us children 
of heaven by giving us light and grace. At 
our death, it is again the Priest who helps 
us to pass the bounds of the last and terrible 
passage ; he encourages us at this dread mo- 
ment, he exhorts us, and, reclothing us a 
last time in the robe of innocence, opens to 
us the gates of eternal life. 

**And during the short space which sep- 
arates the cradle from the tomb, how fre- 
quently have we to bless the hand of the 
Priest ever extended to his unfortunate 
brothers? How often has this venerated 
hand poured balm on our wounds, dissipated 
our fears, banished our sadness ? How 
many times has this paternal hand with- 
drawn us from the abyss ? Yes, when the 
ties which bind us to heaven are broken, the 
Priest weeps like a father over the sorrows 
of a son. Sustained by his great heart, he 
prays, and with touching patience and per- 
severance, labors to repair the misfortune. 
His gentle, firm words follow the traces of 
the evil and efface it, he restores what was 
fallen and fortifies it ; he warms what was 
cold, and reunites between father and son 
the ties which were so sadly severed. 



8 2 Choice of a Director. 

*'And to speak but of ourselves, it was 
through one of these worthy ministers that 
God restored peace and serenity to our days, 
and with these blessings the joy and health 
which we had ceased to know. After the 
death of a father, a mother, and beloved 
brothers, when prostrated by our sorrow, it 
was this hand which raised us up ; at its 
touch we felt new life, a smile returned to 
our lips, and our tearful eyes were raised in 
fervent gratitude to heaven for the gift we 
had received. 

Herminie's veneration for the Priest, 
based upon these various motives, a venera- 
tion which manifested itself by a modest and 
reserved bearing, and a childlike confidence, 
inspired her with such an invincible repug- 
nance to any idea of change, that nothing 
short of her keen uneasiness could make her 
decide to examine the delicate question of 
choosing a new director. St. Francis de Sales 
consulted, tells her : " Choose him among a 
thousand. " St. Teresa affords her some 
reasons drawn from her own experience : 
'* Even though your confessor be intelligent 
and learned, endeavor to go to another from 
time to time ... I know that there are many 
to whom this is profitable. '' 

St. John and St. Paul manifest the use- 



Choice of a Director. 83 

fulness of a good director when they show us 
that our Lord gives to His Churchy workmen 
of every stamp formed by that Spirit which 
breathes where He will, which gives without 
measure, but with discrimination; who makes 
some Apostles, and some Prophets, and other 
some Evangelists, and other some pastors 
and doctors, for the perfecting of the Saints, 
for the work of the ministry, for the edifymg 
of the body of Christ, giving us to understand 
by these words that there must likewise be a 
hierarchy in directors of souls, some being 
more interior, more spiritual, more experi- 
enced, and therefore, more capable of safely 
guiding us to perfection, the sole end of all 
our efforts. These high authorities were 
needed to terminate Herminie's hesitation ; 
accustomed to decide in everything only after 
she had consulted God in prayer, she will be 
careful of permitting herself to yield to I 
know not what natural instinct which too of- 
ten becomes the sole motive in the very im- 
portant choice of the Father of our soul. She 
withdraws into herself, she invokes the Holy 
Spirit; how many times does she not say : 
"" Give me I beseech Thee, O my God, a 
sure and enlightened guide who will lead me 
to Thy love, who will guide me in the path of 
perfection ; and if to attain this it be neces- 



84 Choice of a Director 

sary to traverse forests of thorns, to ford deep 
torrents, to wander through nameless deserts, 
I accept in advance all the trials of the route, 
relying on Thy powerful succor which never 
fails one who trusts in Thee." 

And again ; 

*' I have always had a great desire to love 
Thee with all my heart, O my sweet Master 1 
but this desire now seems less vague, it is 
united more firmly with my will and I feel 
that it must cease to be fruitless. I desire 
then, to take means of testifying this love as 
much and as perfectly as possible, but of 
myself I can do nothing ; and I must needs 
repeat: Lord, what wilt thou that I do? O 
how willingly I should obey him who would 
consent to guide my soul ! But is this pre- 
cious friend to be found ? Cause me to find 
him, O my God, and while waiting to speak 
to me by his lips, speak to my heart, en- 
lighten my understanding, above all strength- 
en my will, for I feel my weakness and my 
misery to be extreme. " 

She added to these prayers novena upon 
novena ; finally she rose, and impelled by a 
secret inspiration from God, found the guide 
whom she sought. He was an enlightened 
priest, whose prudent and firm direction 



Choice of a Director, 85 

caused her to advance rapidly in the way of 
self denial and virtue. 

Prayer to ask of God a Director, 
Lord, who knowest all hearts, make known 
to me the person whom Thou hast chosen to 
o-uide me, for I am but a child, and I know 
not how to walk in Thy way. I know, Lord, 
that Thou art the way and no one can go to 
Thee, save by Thy grace, but I cannot find 
Thee if Thou thyself dost not attract me,and 
if Thou givest me not a guide who will lead 
me to Thee. Send me a guide who may 
discern Thy designs for my soul,— who pon- 
ders Thy words,— who loves the doctrine 
of Thy Church,— who will be to me a fa- 
ther and mother in one, and who, after the 
example of St. Paul, does not tear to suffer 
for the sanctification of souls. 

Send me a guide who will dispense Thy 
Holy Word with prudence, who may know 
how to compassionate my weakness without 
betraying Thy interests, and who seeks but 
to guide me to Thee alone. And when I 
shall have found him, grant me the grace, O 
my God, to heed him, as I would heed Thee, 
to obev him as I would obey Thee. 



CHAPTER FOURTH. 

flibuse of Direction. 

In this Chapter and the following, we shall 
treat, not only of the director, but also of 
the confessor, who, particularly in commu- 
nities, without being properly the director of 
the house, gives, nevertheless, a general im- 
petus to all souls in the same house under 
his direction. With still stronger reason 
does this Chapter apply to persons in the 
world, who have no other director than 
their confessor. 

These abuses of which we have to speak 
may arise from : 

I St. The multiplicity of directors. 

2d. Changing directors. 

3d. The relations with a director. 

I. 

Abuse arising from a multiplicity of Direc- 
tors. 

Unity of direction, particularly in a com- 
munity, is founded : 

I St. On the conduct and spirit of the 



Abuse of Direction 87 

Church, which ensures communities extraor- 
dinary confessors at the four Ember seasons, 
and during a retreat, which requires that a 
superior be wiiUng, in a few extraordinary 
cases, to call in a strange confessor, and re- 
quires that every religious be permitted to 
send for any confessor she wishes at the hour 
of death ; all of which regulations presuppose 
habitually uniform direction. 

2d. On experience ; vcs. communities where 
there are several directors, there is a division 
of sentiments and opinions, and it rarely 
happens that the peace of the community 
is not disturbed. 

They speak of the confessors, — they com- 
pare them one with another, — they uphold 
one, they censure, or at least disapprove, of 
another. . . Thence follow rash judgments ; 
parties are formed which, though perhaps not 
compromising in the beginning, end by de- 
stroying the peace of the community. It is 
remarked, for example, that souls directed by 
such a confessor go to Holy Communion 
more frequently, etc. Thence follow partic- 
ularly, attachments, not very deep-seated 
doubtless, but always inimical to a spirit of 
faith, and sometimes ridiculous ; thence fol- 
low prejudices, so strong, that some will miss 
a communion rather than go to confession 



88 Abuse of Direction. 

to the other confessor, whom they do not 
hke, merely because they did not begin by 
going to him. 

3d. On reason. The director is the chief, 
and gives the same impetus. 

He is the father, he gives the same nour- 
ishment. With one director there is but one 
and the same spirit ; — the spirit of God does 
not dwell where there is a want of union.* 

In the world, a multiplicity of directors 
has also deplorable results. 

There are souls who have several direc- 
tors and several confessors at the same time ; 
they go from one to the other, sometimes in 
the same day, usually choosing one for the 
confession of grave sins, the other for sins 
they suppose less serious. 

Poor souls, unconscious that the spirit 
which impels them is a spirit of pride, some 
times of hypocrisy, always a frivolous spirit 
at least, and that they run the risk, when 
there is question of confession, of profaning a 
sacrament, which they approach without one 

* It IS well to have but one spiritual father but that does 
not, as St. Francis de Sales says, prevent one from commu- 
nicating with several others. St. Teresa made a vow of obe- 
dience to P. Gratien, but it did not prevent her from asking 
counsel. 

Unity of direction, does not in any way prohibit giving 
confidences and making communications to another director 
\JPrinciples <f Mystical Theology ) 



Abuse of Direction, 89 

of the most essential dispositions, humility. 

Such souls will never be at peace, for the 
decisions they receive will rarely be the same ; 
not that the same principles do not guide 
the different directors, but because they 
themselves unconsciously make a different 
representation of the state of their soul. 
In t'lese frivolous souls, who go from chapel 
to chapel and from confessor to confessor, 
impressions are so transitory that the same 
thought takes new shape in their imagi- 
nation every hour. 

They will make no progress in virtue, 
and will remain all their lives subject to the 
same faults. We can only correct a fault 
and acquire a virtue by continuing the same 
efforts, and this perseverance is impossible 
to them because of the different impulsions 
they receive, and of their inconstancy which 
makes them undertake, interrupt, resume 
the same exercises several times in the same 
week ; moreover, one who is ill cannot be 
cured when his impatience leads him con- 
stantly to change his physician. 



90 Abuse of Direction. 

IL 
Abuse in changing Directors. 

A change of director may sometimes be 
necessary, sometimes, simply useful. 

When the desire to change seems rea- 
sonable, and continues after a certain time, 
in spite of our submission, and prayers 
offered with a pure intention for light and 
guidance, let us, if possible, submit our de- 
sire and the reasons for it, to a stranger whom 
we know to be not easily influenced, and 
follow his advice. 

We understand that such advice cannot 
always be obtamed ; let us beware, at least 
when obliged to act by ourselves, of allowing 
our judgment to be influenced : 

I St. By a spirit of frivolity We feel a 
need, a wholly nervous need, to change 
because our director wearies us, tries us, 
always repeats the same thing, and is not, 
we think, what he formerly was to us. 

2d. By vanity. Our director has wound- 
ed us, humbled us, he has administered a 
reproof to us, he entertains suspicions against 
us. — We need, we argue, some one more 
talented, who will not treat us quite so much 
like a child,— we want such a director to 
whom the elect, privileged souls go ; — we 
feel ourselves called to something higher 



Abuse of Direction. 91 

than the monotonous life in which he letJ^ 
us drag wearily on. 

Alas ! all these motives are doubtless not 
as crudely put into words as we have ex- 
pressed them ; but let us search well and 
we will frequently find them m the depth of 
our souls. 

3d. By sensuality. The ordinary director 
ceases to please us ; another, in passing, 
preaches and hears confessions, he delights 
us. . . " Ah ! here is a man of merit ! What 
sanctity ! What amiability ! He is a saint I " 
etc. , etc. 

In truth, how can God bless such mo- 
tives ? Once more, I repeat, sound your 
heart well before leaving permanently the 
priest who has long had the care of your 
soul, or before asking permission to cease 
going to the confessor of the community. 

The most useful confessors and directors 
are not always those who please us most, or 
those who excite in us most sensible fervor; 
but those who make us practice solid vir- 
tues : humility, self-denial, submission to the 
will of God, manifested by events and by the 
action of creatures against us. 

Then, before changing, let us know how 
to wait a certain time and to moderate with 
patience all that may be natural in our de- 



92 Abuse of Direction, 

sire, to manifest to God our good will to 
suffer a few days longer, and to be under- 
stood by Him alone. We have asked the 
spiritual motives for choosing a director, we 
ask now the spiritual motives for leaving him. 
**Be not of the number of these persons '' 
says Guillore, ^^ who change easily because 
they are seized with shame after the confes- 
sion of some grave faults, or because they are 
disgusted, not being directed according to 
their own ideas, or because they are attracted 
by the novelty of some director of reputation. 
This circumstance is gravely prejudicial to 
the soul, for there is nothing which tends 
more to maintain bad habits than this fa- 
cility in changing a director ; doubtless we 
avoid by this means the confusion of our 
faults, but the confusion being avoided, we 
fearlessly fall with impunity into the same 

disorders There must be grave reasons 

for changing a director whom we have 
carefully chosen and whom we have re- 
ceived as from Gods hand. We should not 
lightly undo what God has done. 

There is not question here of a temporary 
change, such as a confession now and then 
made to another confessor, — nor of a coun- 



Abuse of Direction, 93 

sel asked of a worthy person whom God 
sends to us, — nor of a manifestation of con- 
science made in words or by letter to a di- 
rector whose prudence is known to us. 

There are certain situations in life when 
we need a strange voice ; — there are certain 
troubles which we must needs confide to 
one for whom we feel a particular at- 
traction ; : — there are, particularly, certain 
faults, certain kinds of temptation which we 
have not the courage to discover to our or- 
dinary confessor and for which we require 
some one who is perfectly unknown to us. 

Even though there be no extraordinary 
operations in the soul, we do wisely some- 
times to make a retreat under a confessor 
and a director other than the ordinary con- 
fessor and director. 

The Church in her wisdom has decreed 
that several times a year an extraordinary 
confessor should offer his ministry to the 
religious upon whom the rule imposes an 
ordinary confessor. 

The religious are not obliged to confess 
to him, but they must all present themselves 
at the tribunal of penance. The Church 
wishes that at the hour of death every relig- 
ious should be permitted to send for any con- 
fessor she desires, and that every sister be 



94 Abuse of Direction. 

permitted to correspond directly, either with 
her superior general, or with the ecclesiasti- 
cal superior of the community. 

There are cases where a change of direc- 
tor is absolutely necessary. 

*'We must beware/' says Fenelon, *'of 
choosing a director through complacency, or 
policy, or through any sensible attraction, 
or for any reason save to find a man of God. 
A choice made with human motives is capa- 
ble of ruining our means of salvation. If we 
have been so unfortunate as to fall into this 
fault, the only remedy will be to break away 
courageously from the consequences, and 
put our conscience at liberty to seek else- 
where succor according to our needs. '' 

There may be other circumstances in life 
which imperiously require a change of di- 
rector. Let us not act too quickly, and as 
we said, let us do nothing without the coun- 
sel of a prudent person to whom we shall 
have simply represented our feelmgs, our de- 
sires and ihe motives by which we are im- 
pelled. 



* Here is what the " Mystical Theology '' of 
Schram says on the important subject of 
changing a director: 



Abuse of Direction, 95 

* ' Though usually it is well to confide the 
direction of our soul to but one person, 
nevertheless, we should not irrevocably at- 
tach ourselves to him ; we should be suffi- 
ciently indifferent towards him to be able to 
do without him, to be free to consult an- 
othsr, and even to change him at need. 

Otherwise we may have reason to fear the 
menace of our Saviour : ^^ Woe to him who 
confideth in man !" — it would be falling into 
the abuse blamed by the Apostle when the 
faithful of his time glorified themselves, say- 
ing, one : '' I indeed am of Paul/' another, 
'*I am of Apollo/' ''What, then, is Apollo, 
and what is Paul ? " He answers them : '' The 
ministers of Him whom you have believed, 
and they labor for Him every one as the 
Lord hath given. " 

St. Teresa, in the thirteenth Chapter of her 
Life, praises the holy liberty with which a sec- 
ular may choose a better director than her 
own; she would even have a like liberty in 
cloisters, without injury, however, to obedi- 
ence, at least for consulting other priests than 
the confessor. 

The Life of St. Jane de Chantal retraces at 
great length the trouble she experienced in 
consequence of her vow to be directed by 
one director, who did not suit her. 



g6 Abuse of Direction, 

Reason fully justifies this holy liberty. 
There may in fact be grave cases where it is 
important for us to consult another director 
rather than the ordinary one, and even to 
leave the latter. 

III. 

Abuse in the relations with a Director. 

These relations may be vitiated by a too 
strong attachment, by a too pronounced dis- 
like, or by a too absolute reserve. 

I St. Attachment for the Director, 

ist. Attachment for a director is not cen- 
surable when it is formed by grace, — dictated 
by gratitude, — inspired by merited confi- 
dence. 

It gives the director the authority of a 
father, the soul directed the docility of a 
child. 

Our manifest confidence in the director 
excites his zeal, sustains and consoles him. 

The confidence given by the soul directed 
prepares her for the action of grace, makes 
her happy, and enables her to more easily 
bear trials.* 

* Sister Cornuau having- said to Bossuet : " If I am per- 
mitted to wish that you will always continue your care of my 
soul, I may have reason to fear an attachment.'' — The learned 



Abuse of Direction, 97 

2d. Reprehensible, we shall not say 
culpable, attachment which always inter- 
feres with the workings of grace because 
wholly natural, is recognized by the fol- 
lowing marks : 

We desire to be esteemed and loved by 
our director. 

We display to him, and sometimes with 
a refinement of humility which is pitiable, 
all the good qualities we recognize in our- 
selves, particularly exterior qualities. We 
tell him more or less openly that we are 
very much attached to him, and know not 
what we would do without him. 

We accuse him, at least to ourselves, of 
partiality towards others. . . we would be 
the sole object of his interest ; we speak 
when seeking direction, or during confession, 
of things proper to nourish vanity or sen- 
suality. 

We are interminable in our relations to 
him. 

We are disquieted, disconsolate, if absence 

prelate replied: *' You cannot too earnestly desire the care of 
a pastor. . . As to too great attachments for directors, we 
, must treat these things as we do other trials, that is, let 
them pass, and draw into ourselves. It is only the inevitable 
dust and rust to be found on faces, and the cleanest vessels ; 
so that we must continually purify ourselves and suffer God 
to put us back into the fire. Here is the only remedy for 
this evil ; every other aggravates rather than cures it. 



98 Aiuse 0/ Direction, 

or illness interfere with our confession, and 
we miss communion because we have not 
been able to make our confession to him ; 
We go, without his knowledge, when the 
director is also the confessor, to a strange 
priest, to confess a humiliating fault, which 
will lessen, — (we imagine) — the esteem we 
believe merited.* 

And if the confessor be changedf . . We 
have not here to depict scenes which would 
be ridiculous if truly represented, we mere- 
ly wish to indicate the marks of a too nat- 
ural attachment which God does not bless. 

If your director be changed, remember 
that God remains to you. 

If the instrument through which God 
communicated with you be broken, re- 
sources are never lacking to this All-power- 
ful Ardsan. 

If the stream which conveyed God's 
grace to you be dry, the Source remains. 

* We are right, certainly, to seek another priest for the 
confession of a grave sin, which we would perhaps confess 
badly to the ordinary confessor. This is not what we censure. 
Alas ! we know. how to allow for human weakness ! We 
censure the little spirit of faith we bring to our ordinary 
confessions." 

t The abuse of not changing a confessor when we think it 
necessary, is more pernicious than the contrary abuse. 

Frequently changing one's director without necessity may 
be prejudicial to perfection, but not to change one's confessor 
at the risk of making bad confessions, is an abuse which may 
lead to perdition. 



Abuse of Direciio7i. 99 

And who can say whether this change of 
director be not a punishment for your too 
natural attachment, and the feeble manner 
in which you profited by his words ? Who 
can say whether God had not needs send 
him to other souls who will better profit by 
his experience? 

Say not : this director is necessary to my 
perfection, say he is useful ; God alone is 
necessary. 

This minister was sent you by God to do 
you a certain good, determined by the Divine 
Wisdom ; his mission ended, God sends him 
to another soul. Who was more useful to 
Tobias than Raphael ? Raphael leaves 
him after his mission is accomplished. 

Who was more useful for the conversion 
of the Chinese than St. Francis Xavier? 
Yet this servant of God died before setting 
foot in the kingdom of China. 

Who was more necessary to the Apostles 
than our Lord ? Nevertheless our Saviour 
declared to them that His presence was an 
obstacle to the coming of the Holy 
Ghost. 

A natural attachment for one's director is 
one of the great obstacles to the operations 
of grace, and never will a soul that yields 
to the sweetness of this affection, however 



lOO Abuse 0/ Direction. 

innocent it may be, attain the degree of 
perfection to which God calls hex. 

Listen to this remarkable page from the 
Memoirs of M. Oilier : " It pleased oui Lord 
to show me one thing upon which 1 must 
instruct and enlighten souls who come to 
me ; that is, tarn them from certain practices 
in which they indulge, innocently, though 
they are far removed from the purity of God, 
who desires souls perfectly detached, dead 
to themselves, and everywhere void of all 
created things. For example, they affect to 
receive communion at the mass of their con- 
fessors and directors ; this deprives them 
of much grace, weakens God's operations 
and His pleasure in them. 

'' A person who goes to hear the mass of 
a priest for whom she feels a particular 
friendship or esteem, however holy it may be, 
must necessarily risk turning to him from 
time to time with certain complacent, 
pleasurable feelings, certain interior satisfac- 
tion, which incline her to rest, to lean upon, 
and delight in what is human, earthly, 
created, which is not God alone, and His 
purity, which nevertheless must form the 
sole object of the soul's aspirations 

" All that leads us to turn the eyes of our 
soul from God, and to fix them upon the 



Abme of Direction. loi 

creature, is a temptation, a distraction, odious 
to God, particularly in holy things like sac- 
rifice and prayer/'* 

2nd. Dislike for ones Director, 

A dislike for a director arises, we have 
already said, from wounded self love, a frus- 
trated illusion, or a prejudice. 

We have not found in his direction 
what we expected; — ^we imagine that he is 
no longer the same to us, and this thought 
increasing, closes our heart. — Hence we ap- 
proach him with hesitation, we speak with 
embarrassment, we reply with visible fear, 
often in terms that are scarcely polite, and 
necessarily we find, or imagine, that he re- 

V- 1 cannot " writes an experienced soul, ''resist calling your 
attention to the ridiculousness of two kinds of persons. Ihere 
are some who have one appointed director and s^e^^l o^*^f^^^^ 
\n reserve. Excuse the two expressions ; alas ! they are too 
sadly true ! Others go to the other extreme ^^^V /^.^^^^ 
but one director, but he is so unique that no ^J^f^. P"f^'^'^'o2 
any value in their eyes- And if this ,^«Hf d^';f^^,^\'h"ft°;rr1ble 
away they are inconsolable ; the whole ^igj^f -^'l^^them to 
loss they have sustained and how impossible it is for tnem to 
go to any other priest. 

"Avoid the inconstancy of the first and che exciusiveness ot 
the second. Keep your director as long as God leaves him to 
you. In case of absence or departure, be resigned, pray and 
with the assistance of God's grace, go to another. Let your 
attitude towards v our director be a supernatural one. The 
priest is Jesus Christ. Your director is in a measure Jesus 
Christ adapting Himself to you, to better purify, enlighten, 
strengthen and console you. Never forget this great truth, 
and know how to observe a happy medium between pusil- 
lanimity and familiarity." 



I02 Abuse 0/ Direction. 

ceives us coldly, is short in his words, 

severe in his decisions and we plan a 

change which, if not possible, pre-occupies 
us, disquiets us and completely destroys 
our peace. 

Dislike for the ordinary director may 
arise from very different causes : 

There are dispositions which love change, 
and tire of the best things ; they must 
have novelty. 

Others want a confessor, who talks a great 
deal in the confessional, and gives them 
long sermons. 

Others want some one with whom they 
may discuss everything both in and out 
of confession. A solid man who says little 
and to the point dissatisfies them. 

There are persons who seek a confessor 
vho follows their tastes and inclinations ; 
who flatters them, spares them, who con- 
forms himself to their ideas of spirituality, 
who authorizes all their judgments, and all 
they wish, as if the approbation they receive 
justified their immortification. Poor de- 
luded souls, who seek in the condescension 
and indulgence of their directors what may 
maintain their negligence and not the rem- 
edy for the evil. 

Sometimes dislike for a director and con- 



Abuse of Direction. 1C3 

sequently a desire to leave him, comes from 
jealousy. We would like to be of a limited 
number, and we are not ; we imagine that 
the director has more consideration for oth- 
ers, that he gives them more time, as if a 
priest had not to give himself to each soul 
according to its need ! 

There are some, finally, who tire of a 
director who knows how to control them, 
who wishes them to advance in virtue, who 
excites and urges them on. They would 
rather give up everything than subject them- 
selves to reproaches and urgent solicita- 
tions. 

O! the pitiable devotion of such souls! 
How ill it is understood, how puerile, or ra- 
ther, how dangerous it is ! Dislike for a con- 
fessor and director may sometimes be the 
effect of the devil's malice, who, wishing to 
hinder the good which certain direction 
effects in a soul, fills her with a vague 
disquiet, groundless suspicion, an almost 
unconquerable weariness. 

This dislike also arises simply by the 
permission of God, who would oblige a 
soul to act with more purity of intention 
and to seek only God in the director. 

Whatever the source of this dislike, a 
spirit of faith, humility, and patient submis- 



I04 Abuse of Direction, 

sion are the means by which we may dissi- 
pate it or render it meritorious. 

What soul, in fact, convinced that she has 
no right after all her infidelities to the 
fatherly care of God, will not esteem herself 
fortunate that God deigns to concern Him- 
self for her, even though He permits His or- 
ders and counsels to be transmitted to her 
in : way which is irritating to her sensi- 
tiveness, and displeasing to her nature? 

3rd. Reserve with the Director, 

This reserve which, in the beginning, may 
be only the result oftimidity and which in 
this case gradually disappears, is more fre- 
quently the fruit of self love or prejudice, 
and always a want of a spirit of faith. 

It prevents the director, the spiritual phy- 
sician, from learning and consequently cur- 
ing your infirmities by applying suitable 
remedies. 

It prevents the director, the guide of your 
soul, from leading you to the degree of per- 
fection which God requires of you, for it is 
necessary that this guide know the lights with 
which you have been favored, the causes of 
your imperfections, the nature of your tem- 
perament. 

Here, in the words of an experienced di- 



Aduse of Direction, 105 

rector, is practically what this reserve leads 
to, which prevents you from discovering the 
depths of your soul. 

" This reserve may be observed concerning 
evil inclinations, or graces and gifts of 
God." 

1st. You who only mention in a general 
way, or scarce make any mention of your 
evil inclinations, who fear that their source 
may be found, and all their results discover- 
ed, and particularly that your affection for 
them may be revealed, — do you know the 
result of this want of frankness ? 

Ever in a state of tepidity and imperfec- 
tion, you will always continue slothful and 
imperfect. In a state of degeneracy and 
decline, you will gradually weaken day by 
day, and perhaps you will be the only one 
to whom it will not be apparent. In a state 
of trial and temptation you will be without 
support and you will be overcome ; or your 
soul disquieted and tormented, without 
bearing the stain of sin will experience all 
its trouble and bitterness. In a state of 
doubt and perplexity, you will not act, and 
you will leave a virtuous act undone ; or 
you will act against the light of your con- 
science and you will make a false step, which 
will bring disorder into your life. 



io6 Abuse of Direction, 

You who in a general or ordinary con- 
fession will have concealed a weakness 
which it still costs you an effort to confess, 
do you know what will be the consequences 
of this reticence ? You will groan under the 
habitual slavery of sin. You will approach 
the sacraments and you will profane them. 
Your life will be but a series of faults and 
remorse. Fortunate, if awakened by the 
cries of conscience, you cast yourself in to the 
arms of God and His minister to procure for 
yourself, by a faithful confession, the consola- 
tions which religion offers you. 

You, finally, who with habitual faults, of 
which every one complains, and for which 
you have so often been reproved, whether a 
frivolous spirit of dissipation, a hard capri- 
cious disposition, a proud and haughty hu- 
mor, or a tendency to taunt and contradict 
your sisters, — carelessly and superficially ex- 
pose these dispositions to your confessor, do 
you know what will be the result ? Your 
passions always immortified, will prevent any 
change being visible in your conduct, and 
will follow you perhaps to the tomb. Your 
communions will be as useless as they are 
frequent, and the little fruit you derive from 
them will be a source of regret to your con- 
fessor, or bitter grief to your superior, 



Abme of Direction, 107 

and of bad example to the community. 
We do not sufficiently expose the depths 
ofoursoulto God's minister, because we 
hold to our passions, and disguise our faults 
from ourselves. That sister, for example, 
who wearies the others by her obstinacy, 
her sudden sallies of impatience, her brusk- 
ness, finds reasons to excuse and sometimes 
to even justify herself. And with such dis- 
positions, how does she accuse herself.? I 
accuse myself of impatience she will say, and 
confine herself to this short accusation. The 
spiritual father finding it insufficient, ques- 
tions her to learn the nature of the fault. Was 
it a sudden movement of impatience which 
escaped yoa ? Did you indulge it .? Was it 
accompanied with unkind words which pain- 
ed another.? "My daughter," continues the 
confessor, "it is only a sally of impatience,but 
you fall into this fault repeatedly, you do 
not correct it ; but you must overcome your- 
self." — "It is true," answers the penitent, "I 
wish I could dobetter ; but lam weak, I was 
born with this tendency ; it carries me away. 
To be silent and gentle upon certain occa- 
sions would require the virtue of an angel." 
— Thus instead of accusing, she seeks to 
justify herself with apologies, or to make only 
half accusations ; and after such imperfect 



io8 Abuse of Direction. 

accusations what do we see ? the same pas- 
sions, the same faults, the same habits. 

Another sister accuses herself of disput- 
ing with a companion engaged in the same 
work. What is the reason of it ? An an- 
tipathy which she will not overcome, too 
great attachment to her own ideas, pride 
wounded by a word, a contradiction, a re- 
proach ; but all this is suppressed, there is no 
mendon of these various motives. The di- 
rector suspects some reticence on the part of 
the interested person. The very vehemence 
with which she expresses herself makes him 
feel that he must distrust her representations. 
He enters into detail, he asks questions, he 
administers a reproof, how is it received ? 
«' Ah ! Father you blame me, you will not 
hear me. If you knew all I have to suffer, 
and how difficult it is to live wiih certain 
characters !" A moment after, the sister, the 
subject of complaint, comes and relates the 
same fact, and in a more temperate manner 
cites a circumstance which betrays the his- 
torian, and develops the mystery. Is this 
confessing one's sins and seeking direction .? 
Is it not rather convincing a director of what 
he already knows and what e:xperience 
teaches us, that your sex has a singular skill 
in dressing a fact to favor its weakness and 



Abuse of Direction, 109 

in devoutly deceiving with an air of truth- 
fulness ? 

What ! from this wise and wholesomely 
severe hand which is to cure your wounds 
by the application of the lancet and caustic, 
you seek a false condescension which flat- 
ters and caresses them ! 

Another sister accuses herself of having 
failed in respect to her mistress or her su- 
perior. Represent to her that respect to- 
wards superiors is a rigorous obligation, that 
all who govern are the depositories of the 
power and authority of God Himself, that 
He receives in their person the homage of 
submission or the insult of revolt, she ex- 
cuses, palliates the fault which is only too 
evident : — '^ I do not like that mistress ; she 
does not attract me ; that superior does not 
inspire me with sufficient confidence, and she 
may be mistaken. " — Thus after failing in 
obedience and submission, she goes to con- 
fession and in the very tribunal where she 
should repair her fault, she adds another, a 
want of humility and compunction. 

Such is the usual cause of the little fruit 
produced by the sacraments and of so many 
useless, sometimes sacrilegious confessions 
and communions. They content themselves 
with a superficial exposition, without dis- 



no Abuse of Direction. 

covering the depths. and the condition of the 
soul. They declare to the priest a few ex- 
terior faults, they show him, if I may so speak 
a few reptiles from the human heart, but 
without giving him the key of the abyss. 

2d. We sin also against direction through 
reserve, by not being sufficiently open con- 
cerning the graces and gifts received from 
God. These gifts should be examined, re- 
spected and made profitable. 

First, they should be examined. The 
Apostle St. John forbids us to believe every 
spirit, but tells us to try them.* These gifts 
of God, and these special attractions of 
which I speak, must then be submitted, 
for our security, to examination, in order not 
to confound divine operations with the 
work of the imagination and the illusions 
of the spirit of darkness. To what false 
lights, to what illusions and errors we expose 
ourselves ! and how many souls are deceived 
because they will walk alone without a 
guide ! 

Secondly, these gifts should be respected. 
It is respecting them, to communicate them 
when God inspires us to. It is respecting 
them, to seek in this communication a means 
of exciting ourselves to the needful gratitude 

* John iv. 



A huse of Direction, ill 

for them, learning to believe ourselves un- 
worthy of them, and detaching ourselves 
from that self examination and vain compla- 
cency which are the shoal in such favors. 

Thirdly, they must bear fruit. In fact, God 
never bestows a grace with the intention of 
giving but one. The first which we receive 
is a fruitful germ of those which follow, ano* 
God, master of His gifts and anxious to dis 
tribute them, waits only our co-operation t< 
multiply them. 

This co-operation requires continuous ef- 
forts which only a director can help us to 
make; it requires lights which God, to pre- 
serve us in humility, usually gives to others 
to be communicated to us. 

It is thus, pious souls, by exposing your 
conscience, and opening your heart with 
simplicity that you will walk in the way, God 
has traced for you, and attain the perfection 
He requires of you; while with your reserve 
and your false timidity you will remain al- 
ways imperfect, and oblige God to withdraw 
His graces from you. 



CHAPTER FIFTH. 

Duties of the soul directed. 

As this work is written particularly for 
souls under direction, we shall not speak of 
the duties of the director. 

We have just said a word of the spirit of 
faith, without which direction becomes, to a 
large number of souls, an insupportable tyran- 
ny, a source of vexation, murmurs, trials , . . 
we shall confine ourselves to this. 

The soul under direction must : 

1st. Pray much for her Direotor. 

This is a duty of gratitude and personal in- 
terest. 

1st. We shall not dwell upon the director's 
necessary devotion, — upon the vexations he 
must conquer, — upon the repugnances he 
must overcome, — the time he must sacrifice, 
— the fatigue he must endure, — the little 
consolation he receives, — the ingratitude he 
sometimes encounters .... all things which 
require on his part courage, energy, self de- 
nial, charity. He is much to be pitied If he 



Duties of the soul directed. 113 

has not the glory of God in view, if he is not 
sustained by this thought : I am sanctifying 
myself, — I am performing an act of chari- 
ty, — I am taking God's place 

And you, the object of his care, must be 
very selfish and unfeeling, if you have not 
some gratitude for one whom you find ever 
ready to hear you and to help you; if you 
have not a little patience with one who is 
so patient with you, who sometimes is already 
wearied and tired for hours when you come 
to fatigue him still more, and who asks of 
you no pecuniary compensation, not even 
thanks or affection but only a few prayers for 
his soul, 

2d. Your own interest requires that you 
pray for your director. What, in fact, do you 
desire ? To become virtuous and sanctify your- 
self ? ... to do this you need the counsel, the 
help, the protection of a person who has few 
human resources, and who, outside of faith, 
finds nothing to sustain him m his ministry. 

Then ask for your director, abundant 
light, that he may clearly see your needs, 
and the means he must adopt to meet them. 

Ask for him wisdom, that he may not re- 
quire what is above your strength, and that 
he may neither lighten nor increase the bur- 
den which God gives you to bear. 



1 14 Duties of the soul directed. 

Ask for him kindness, that he may not 
repel you, that he may treat you with pa- 
tience, affection, in a spirit of God. 

Ask for him sanctity, that he may have 
no other object but to lead you to God, and 
that he may sanctify himself in doing you 
good. 

Pray every day for him, pray especially 
the day you are going to him. 

2d. The soul under direction must ser- 
iously will to become better. 

This is the end of direction ; and if your 
will be very firm in this respect, you will be 
happy to seek direction, or you will at least 
seek it with the thought, a sufficiently stim- 
ulating one : that you are going to gain 
strength thereby. 

This firm will, will cause you to overcome 
the repugnance you may feel from time to 
time, and which may arise from a vague 
weariness for which you cannot account. 

It will cause you to despise the humiU- 
ation you will necessarily feel in exposing 
your miseries, and at finding yourself always 
with the same imperfections and faults. 

It will cause you to observe the practice 
of seeking direction as assiduously as you do 
that of confession. 



Duties of the soul directed. 1 1 5 

It will render you simple and docile, to 
adopt at once the method of prayer, or plan 
of conduct, suggested to you, to abandon 
without regret the practices of piety to which 
you are accustomed,— to will, in a word, all 
that he wills who takes God's place to you. 

A soul of good will acts when she is told 
to act, abstains from action when told to ab- 
stain, withdraws at the first word from any- 
thing which she has imprudently or incon- 
siderately undertaken. She makes, un- 
makes, interrupts, resumes, labors anew, 
multiplies her efforts, rests, mortifies herself 
according to the counsel of him who guides 
her. 

3d. A soul imder direction must be sim- 
ple. 

'• The sisters' simple and childlike confi- 
dence in their Mother^ will fill Paradise 
with religious," said St. Chantal. 

" Have a heart of crystal, fear only one 
thing, not being thoroughly known to your 
director. ' How I wash,' says P. Lalleraant, 
^ I could take my interior between my hands 
and show it just as it is T " 

If you see only God in your director, you 
will be simple, frankly answering the ques- 
tions which are put to you, — accepting 



1 16 Duties of the soul directed, 

without murmur the reproaches you receive, 
yen when Utile merited,-suffering no doubt, 
and even keenly, at findmg yourself suspected, 
perhaps misunderstood, but recognizing it 
only as a trial, or permitted by God to hum- 
ble you. 

If you are simple, you will tell your efforts, 
your combats, your fails, your successes ; — 
you will make known your plans with a 
fixed resolution to pursue them or abandon 
them according as you are counselled, -final- 
ly you will heartily and afiectionately thank 
your guide and return to your daily life. 

'' Every month, the sisters' writes St 
Francis de Sales *' shall briefly and sum- 
marily expose their heart to ihe superior in 
all simplicity, and with faithful confidence 
show her its innermost depths with the same 
sincerity and candor that a child would show 
its scratches and bruises to its mother, and 
by this means they will lender an ac- 
count as much of their advancement and 
progress, as of their losses and failings in ex- 
ercises, and prayer, in virtues and the inte- 
rior life, manifesting also iheir interior and 
exterior temptations, not only to seek con- 
solation, but to be strengthened and hum- 
bled. 

** Happy those who practice with frank 



Duties of the soul directed. 117 

simplicity this article of the constitutions 
which teaches a portion of that holy spiritual 
infancy which our Lord has recommended so 
much and which creates and maintains true 
tranquillity of spirit." 

Simplicity gently opens the soul without 
any reserve whatever, and does not fear that 
the director may see too clearly. 

Does she fear to make known her weak- 
nesses ? but she wishes to correct them and 
she knows that her efforts will be more ap- 
parent to her director than her miseries; — 
her faults? but she is sincerely sorry for them 
and she knows that this sorrow will cause 
her cowardice to be forgotten; — her desires? 
her projects ? but she admits none that God's 
eye could find reprehensible. If some of 
them claim her attention, she reveals them 
with great frankness, and states the impres- 
sion they make upon her, ready to energet- 
ically reject them, the moment her confessor 
shall say: *^This desire, this project will 
profit you nothing ! " 

When we act thus, God does not permit 
us to be deceived or even our soul to be dis- 
quieted. 



1 1 8 Duties of the soul directed, 

4th. A soul under direction must be obedi- 



ent. 



Obedience to a director is a consequence 
of the spirit of faith. 

When St. Paul went to the early faithful 
of Galatia, he was received as an angel and 
as Jesus Christ Himself. -And with rea- 
son/' says St. Thomas, '' for it was really Jesus 
Christ who came to them, hidden under the 
exterior of this great Saint.'' 

Our director is an Angel expressly sent 
us by God to make known His will to 
us. 

*' And if he is a priest/' says St. Bonaven- 
ture, '^he is another Jesus Christ, for where, 
think you, Jesus Christ to be?" adds the 
Saint. '^ In the breast of a good priest, and 
in the heart of a wise director." 

^ We must approach him then with a heart 
disposed to receive as an oracle all that he 
will say i\\ relation to our soul. 

Therefore, faithful, absolute, unreserved 
obedience to him. Obedience without ex- 
amination, discussion or equivocation, to all 
that he commands, short of what is contrary 
to the commandments of God, the Church 
or the rule. Represent to him, doubtless, 
any undesirable result which you think may 



Duties of the soul directed, 119 

follow Irom whai he commands, but if he 
insists, always submit and obey. "^ 

Obedience in regard to the modifications 
in the commandments of the Church and 
some points of the rule, which he thinks right 
to command, particularly, if the director be 
our superior— in regard to superfluities 
which he thinks right to retrench in our dress, 
our furniture, or any of those thousand and 
one things to which the heart becomes at- 
tached,— in regard to the labor he thmk:s 
useful for us to perform, and even the man- 
ner of performing it. 

In a word, faithful, blind, prompt, gen- 
erous obedience. 

" In regard to the particular guidance of 
the soul," says St. Francis de Sales, ''it must 
obey the special director and confessor ; 
search as you will, says the devout Avila, 
you will never so assuredly find the will of 
God as by this path of humble obedience so 
recommended and practised by the early 
Saints. 



* *' If the director is mistaken," says P. Grou, '-noharnx 
will result to you who obey with a spirit of faith. God will 
bless your submission and obedience. He will prevent or re- 
pair the evil consequences of this error. God never aban- 
dons a soul that obeys for love of Him ; He is pledged to this 
by His Providence, since He wishes that in the priest who 
represents Him, we behold Himself. 



1 20 Duties of the soul directed. 

" We must believe directors and spiritual 
physicians, for God, who loves obedience, 
often renders useful the counsel we accept 
from another, and particularly from directors 
of souls, though there be otherwise no rea- 
son for followmg it ; just as He rendered the 
water of the Jordan profitable to Naaman, 
which Elias, without any apparent humaii 
reason, had commanded him to use. 

*' You should work out your interior good 
by the means judged suitable by those ap- 
pointed to guide souls.— We would be 
taught perhaps and instructed by God 
Himself in the way of ecstacies, raptures 
and visions, and I know not what similar 
foolishness, manufactured in our imagination, 
rather than follow the salutary and common 
way of holy submission to those whom God 
has sent us. Now, though it is veiy certain 
thai God will work miracles rather than 
leave unaided, either spiritually or tempor- 
ally, those who fully trust themselves to His 
care and Providence, He wishes neverthe- 
less that we should do on our part all that 
lies in our power ; that is. He wills that we 
should make use of the ordinary means of 
perfection, in default of which, He will never 
fail to help us. But while His will is signi- 
fied to us, and we have persons who tell us 



Duties of the soul directed, 121 

what we must do, let us not expect that 
God will work miracles to teach us and lead 
us to perfection, for He will not. 

^^ Let your spiritual director command the 
pious actions you should perform, for they 
will be better, and will have double grace 
and merit : merit in themselves that they 
are pious, and the merit of obedience which 
commands them and in virtue of which they 
are done.'* 

Remember, however, that this obedience 
must leave your soul in peace, and permit 
you to act without scruple, according to cir- 
cumstances, notwithstanding the counsel you 
have received, when it is not apparent that 
you can do otherwise. 

Only render an account, when you next 
seek direction, of the course you pursued 
and the reasons you had for so doing. 

Counsels for the practice of virtue maybe 
excellent in themselves, yet, when the time 
comes to apply them, we may find that we 
can only do so with great difficulty, or at the 
risk of grave consequences which could not 
have been foreseen. 

It is different when the application of the 



122 Duties of the soul directed, 

counsel is absolutely necessary to avoid sin. 

"• A spiritual director/' says Father Faber, 
** is not a monastic superior. Our obe- 
dience to the last, must be minute ; to the 
first, general. 

''The superior's jurisdiction is universal, 
the director's only where we invite it, or he 
asks it and we accord it. 

"The superior turns into precepts matters of 
supererogation; a director must have forgot- 
ten himself if he attempts anything of the kmd. 
'' If we disobey a superior, we sin ; it would 
require very peculiar and unusual circum- 
stances to make disobedience to our director 
any sin at all. 

Let us beware particularly of making a 
vow of obedience to our director, even if he 
is also our confessor. A few Saints have 
doubtless made this vow with profit to their 
souls, but it was under special and rare cir- 
cumstances, and then, they lived a life of such 
intimate union with God, in such perfect de- 
tachment from creatures, in such continual 
mortification of their senses and desires, in 
such profound humility, and God led them 
by such extraordinary ways, that their ex- 
ample can in no way be a rule to us. Grave 
inconvenience may result from this vow of 
obedience made in a moment of fervor. 



Duties of the soul directed, 1 2 3 

5th. The soul under Section must be 
discreet. 

To speak little of one's director is great 
wisdom ; — to extol him upon all occasions 
is great imprudence. 

Some speak of him through vanity. The 
director is learned, he directs a great many, 
and we are very glad to have it known that 
we have been accepted as his penitent, and 
that under his direction, one becomes a 
great saint. 

Others speak of him through extravagant 
affection, which, if not guilty, is at least ill 
regulated and they are sometimes the cause 
of much annoyance to their directors, who for 
the most part are wholly unconscious of the 
attachment they have inspired. 

Others speak through pure heedlessness, 
and a desire to talk, telling without reflec- 
tion the questions they submitted to him, 
his replies, the counsels they received, the 
decisions they obtained, . . . they repeat 
these decisions, these counsels, in their own 
incomplete, imperfect way, and put in the 
mouth of the director, a multitude of things 
which he never said 

Others speak to complain, particularly 
when the director is appointed, and they are 



1 24 Duties of the soul directed. 

not free to leave him . . . These over delicate 
souls, habitually filled vi^ith themselves, do 
not see that the complaints in which they 
indulge, — even though not without foun- 
dation, will awaken in other trusting, happy 
souls, suspicions, fears, and vague disquiet, 
and from that moment weaken their con- 
fidence How responsible before God, 

is one who censures a director ! What an 
account he will have to render for having 
paralyzed the good which an authorized 
director could have effected in a religious 
house ! 

When a soul feels a desire to complain of 
her director, it is pretty certain she is not 

united to God Ah ! dear soul, at times 

when you find your director less kind, less 
patient, or he seems to pay no more atten- 
tion to you, instead of murmuring and im- 
parting with exaggeration your impressions 
to others, go before our dear Lord and 
humbly acknowledge that there must be a 
secret evil within you which God wills to 
cure with a little harshness. 

Sometimes, no doubt, the director wishes 
to satisfy himself of the soul's strength, but 
very often he is only God's instrument for 
you. God gives to the tone of his voice a 
harshness of which he is not conscious. 



Duties of the soul directed. 125 

places on his lips an expression which has 
wounded you and which it was not his in- 
tention to use to you — ^your complaint is 
not against him alone, but reflects upon 
God. 

Remember that his manner of guiding 
you whatever it may be, will always be profit- 
able if you accept it as coming from God. 

Be also discreet in communicating to 
others the counsels you have received from 
your director. 

'' Have you." says a pious work, ''well 
reflected on the character of intimacy and 
even individuality which characterise confes- 
sion and direction .? Only the priest and 
your soul 1 The priest thinks only of Jesus 
Christ and your soul You on your part 
have to think but of Jesus Christ and your 
soul. My secret is mine, mine is my secret ; 
practice these words of Holy Scripture. That 
which is for you, must not be applied to 
others, and as a general rule cannot be ap- 
plied to them. 

^'When God has caused a thought or 
word to reach you which touches your heart, 
keep it there. If the person to whom you 
communicate it be not moved by it, she may 
take it in a contrary sense, and thus thwart 
God's designs. 



126 Duties of the soul directed. 

** When we decide to communicate some- 
thing which has passed between the director 
and the soul, it must be with the intention to 
increase in certain persons their love for Our 
Lord, their confidence in the guidance of 
Providence, or to help them in a difficult or 
painful situation ; for example, to overcome 
a temptation which we have experienced and 
for which we have been shown a remedy. 

'* Outside of these exceptional and ne- 
cessarily rare cases, keep for your soul alone 
the words with which God has inspired 
your director for your soul alone. 

^'Imitate the Blessed Virgin who carefully 
preserved in her heart the great things she 
saw and heard." 

6th. A soul under direction must be 
humble. 

The more humble the soul is, the more 
real and even sensible will be the profit she 
derives from direction. 

More humility is perhaps required in 
seeking direction than in the practice of 
confession, either because we must expose 
with more detail than confession requires, 
our want of firmness, our mconstancy, our 
bad will,— or particularly, because a director 
must treat us with less consideration than a 
confessor. 



Duties of the soul directed. 127 

He must form us to virtue, and he can 
only do so by causing us to practice self- 
denial, and self-denial is not learned so 
much by mortifying ourselves as by letting 
others mortify us. The director then must 
go counter to our desires by restraining us 
when we wish to go forward, by forbidding 
us austerities which we would like to practice, 
and even extra communions which we are 
led to ask, — ^^by giving us scarcely a word 
when we expected a long conference, — by 
meeting a confident outpouring of our heart 
wdth a few dry, brief words, by requiring 
such a practice which tries us, such an act 
of submission or charity at which our self- 
love revolts. 

How, upon these occasions, and so many 
others which God contrives with us, are we 
to continue confident, submissive, respectful, 
without a great depth of humility ? 

To how many souls a less cordial recep- 
tion, a want of time, which prevented a 
director from hearing them as long as they 
wished, a harsh word designedly spoken 
sometimes to try them, have been sufficient 
to rouse them against their director and 
cause them to leave him in search of some 
one, they tell you, who better understands 
them, consoles them more affectionately, 



128 Duties of the soul directed. 

and is more advanced in the ways of God, 

Poor souls, poor souls, if you were more 
humble, that is, convinced that because of 
your sins you did not deserve that God 
should give you a director who occupies 
himself specially with you, — that in hearing 
you he performs a great act of charity, — 
that you ought to be very happy to be able 
to reach heaven by suffering, by being 
thought ill of, rebuffed, misunderstood, how 
grateful you would be to this good priest, 
and this good superior, who, in hearing you, 
spend time which they both might employ 
more usefully for themselves ; how submis- 
sive and patient you would be; how carefully 
you w^ould gather the least of their coun- 
sels, how earnestly you would thank them, 
and how fervently you would pray for them 1 

Be humble, be humble, ask God to make 
you very humble ! 

** There are no good directors, " say cer- 
tain persons impelled by a secret pride to 
pose as elect souls. 

^* It is not true, '' Bourdaloue answers, 
'^ there are many directors, but few persons 
who allow themselves to be directed. 

" Not that all, or nearly all, devout persons 
do not wish to have a director, but a director 
after their own fashion, who directs them ac- 



Dtdies of the soul directed, 129 

cording to their ideas, a director whom they 
themselves direct as to how they must be di- 
rected. 

''This is not wishing a director but wish- 
ing to direct one's self through a director. " 

** There are certain devotees/' says Fr. 
Crasset, ' ' who affect to be unable to find a 
director to their taste. They must change 
every month, and to justify their fickleness 
cite the example of St. Teresa, whom the 
greater number of directors were unable to 
direct, and St. Francis de Sales, who says, a 
director must be one chosen among a thou- 
sand. 

*' I acknowledge St. Teresa needed learn- 
ed and experienced directors, but are you a 
St. Teresa ? Do you obey all your confes- 
sors as she did ? Do you do all they com- 
mand, even to leaving, when obedience or- 
dered, our Lord who visibly appeared to her } 

*' If, like her, you are humble, docile, and 
obedient, the Son of God will not fail to send 
you when the proper time arrives, men more 
capable and enlightened than your confes- 
sors. Meanwhile He will instruct you Him- 
self, without, however, dispensing you from 
^he obedience you owe them. 

*' Persons who are so fastidious in the 
matter of directors, and so difficult to please 



130 Duties of the soul directed. 

probably need one to teach them the elements 
of the spiritual life, which are humility and 
mortification." * 

7th. A Smnmary. 

Ancient writers have expressed in the fol- 
lowing axioms the sum of one's actions in 
relation to a director : 

Consule — to consult Carpe — to accept. 

Solare — to calm. JDoce — to learn. 

Remitte — to pardon. Fer — to endure. 
Ora — to pray. 
— Consult, ask advice instead of following 

* The false devotee is indocile to direction though she affect 
to be under the direction of the most clever and enlightened. 
After much peregrination, you believe her settled and defi- 
nitely submissive to direction ; no such thing. Her plan is 
made in advance, her life is mapped out, her practices labelled, 
nothing must be changed. She is prodigal in protestations of 
submission, but at the least word of contradiction she rebels, 
murmurs, protests, poses as misunderstood. For example at- 
tertipt to introduce some order into her numerous practices. 
It is a sacrilegious interference. Refuse her a communion 
which she asks I It is treating her with barbarity. 

If she have a mania for representing herself as very unwor- 
thy, a mania which is often but a shade of pride, or a refuge 
of cowardice, and you endeavor to dispose her to receive the 
grace of the sacraments, you are hardening her, brutalizing 
her. 

Or, if she assents to all your counsels and commands, it is to 
nave her own way under pretexts which she is in the habit of 
finding perfectly reasonable. 

Thwarted in her caprices and fancies, or to speak more 
elegantly, in her religious autonomy, she endeavors to find 
a good-natured, weak man, whom she can adroitly bend to 
her will, and if she succeeds, she will be convinced that at last 
she has the proper kind of direction. — Or et aliiage. 



Duiits of the soul directed. 131 

your inspirations which are rarely disinter- 
ested, or may be the perfidious flatteries of 
false friends who have the weakness to aban- 
don you to the mercy of your caprices. 
—Accept, Accept reproof with humility, and 
correction without murmur, complaint, or 
resentment, if you would not weary and dis- 
courage the kind charity of your guide. 
— Calm yourself : Direction is a soothingbalm, 
a vivifying dew, a mingling of wine and oil 
which nourish the soul. Show your wounds, 
let the physician do as he wills, suffer him 
to see them and simply accept the compas- 
sion he shows you. 

— Pardon diny pain he may cause you in 
touching your wounds, just as your physician 
himself must pardon the vagaries of your 
sick soul. 

— Endure, No one is free from faults ; your 
director, alas ! has his, as you have yours ; 
bear with them, forget them as he bears 
with and forgets yours. 
— Pray, Finally, pray God to give your 
guide the special wisdom he needs, which 
he himself also asks for, that he may be 
more useful to you ; pray God to make you 
docile that you may profit by the great favor 
He bestows upon you in giving you a direc- 
tor. 



1^2 Duties of the soul directed. 

8th. A few counsels. 

Let your conversations with your director 
be neither too long, nor filled with news or 
irrelevant matters. 

After treating of the affairs of your soul, 
withdraw. " Little incidents, natural affec- 
tions, glide therein so easily/' says Guillor6, 
'' that if we are not careful, we degenerate 
after a few words upon God, into a hundred 
•idle remarks. Then do not remain too 
long with your director ; necessary things 
do not require hours to settle them.'' 

Beware, as we have already said, of attach- 
ing yourself to him too sensibly, let there 
always be more respect than affection be- 
tween you ; God withdraws from a soul whose 
memory is filled with the thought of a 
creature, however holy he may be. 

Never speak to him in unusual places ; see 
him as a priest in the confessional rather 
than at his house. In the confessional you 
can better treat of the affairs of your soul ; 
your conversation is more serious'and more 
free from all that may be human, it is easier 
to open your heart, and God's blessing is 
more abundant. 

Do not let caprice regulate the days for 
seeking direction. In communities, the 
time for it is fixed by the rule, and we have 



Duties of the soul directed, 133 

not to concern ourselves to do it ; it is the 
director moreover who determines the time, 
and we must abide by his decision except 
in extraordinary cases. 

The heart of a superior and a priest is al- 
ways open to receive those who need him. 



CHAPTER SIXTH. 



Objections to the practice of Direction. 

No one denies the usefulness and advan- 
tages of direction in general, but when there 
is question of putting it in practice, many 
pious persons raise a multitude of objections 
which we shall answer after first showing the 
source from which they arise. 

Sources of these objections. 

ist. Self love, which is unwilling to expose 
Its miseries, and acknowledge its faults, which 
particularly finds it onerous to seek sanc- 
tion in those thousand details of the interior 
lite, which, after all, concern, it tells you, 
only God and the soul. 

Nature at all times has rebelled against 
absolute submission, but we may say that the 
spirit oi independence has never so general- 
ly possessed souls as at the present day 

Who does not see it, who does not feel it 
even m the most pious houses .? Who even 
m comparing the present state of his soul 



Objections to the practice of Direction. 135 

with that of fifteen years ago, does not find 
more revolt against authority than formerly? 

Should not this be a stronger reason for 
forcing one's self to that exposition of the 
heart which subjugates and humbles us? 

2d. A spirit of self sufficiency, a necessary 
consequence of self love, which leads proud 
souls to believe that they know all they are 
to hear, that they have no need of the coun- 
sel they are told to seek, that they could 
give it equally as well as the person appoint- 
ed to impart it ; finally, that they are not chil- 
dren to be led step by step, with no power 
to act for themselves. 

3d. Sloth and sensuality, which find it 
hard to thus expose one's weaknesses which, 
after all, are effaced by the sacrament of 
Penance ; that the yoke of confession is 
sufficiently painful without submitting to 
another yoke no less humiliating. 

4th. The jealousy of the evil one, who 
knows that a soul under the protection of 
her director is fortified by his counsels, 
is safe against his attacks, and cannot be 
either overcome by his efforts, or surprised 
by his snares, who understands that a soul 
without a director is accessible to all kinds 
of illusions, that she is a city without ram- 
parts, — that he may approach her, and 



136 Objections to the practice of Direction, 

penetrate her with ail the most extravagant 
delusions ; he will furnish a thousand reasons, 
a thousand pretexts, a thousand inventions, 
a thousand chimeras, a thousand phantoms 
to persuade her not to submit to direction. 

Answers to the principal objections to di- 
rection, particularly in communities, 

ist. My director is not a priest : new only a 
priest has the necessary grace for direction. 

You forget first of all that there is no 
question of receiving absolution. Nor is 
your superior a priest, and yet you obey him 
because he is vested with an authority which 
comes from God. If, as a religious, your 
rule tells you to go to him for direction, he 
will have special light from heaven to guide 
you. 

Moreover, it is not as a criminal that you 
unveil your soul, but as an imperfect soul ; 
nor is it making a confession, but simply 
opening your heart ; you do not exactly 
seek theological decisions, but instruction 
and counsel upon the manner of observing 
your rule, of correcting a fault, of over- 
coming a prejudice, and which a superior 
can give as profitably as a director. 

Neither St. Francis of Assisi nor Sl 



Objections to the practice of Direction, 137 

Francis of Paul were priests, yet they were 
wise and renowned directors. 

Neither St. Teresa nor St. Chantal were 
pnests,and yet do you think that their know- 
ledge of the things of God would not be 
sufficient to direct your soul ? 

2d. But if my director and my superior are 
neither of them Saints like these? 

Who told you they are not? At the 
time when these directors I have just men- 
tioned lived, St. Francis of Assisi was treated 
as a fool, as an ignorant, weak mind by some 
of his brothers. 

St. Teresa was called a visionary and even 
said to be one of the Illuminati* by some 
of her sisters. 

Would you be of the number of those 
poor religious } 

St. Francis of Assisi had his faults, and 
St. Teresa had hers. ^^ She was considered 
a woman of no judgment, and the religious 
of the monastery of the Incarnation went so 
far as to say that she ought to be shut up 
in prison." 

Let us not go outside of a spirit of faith 

*A sect, condemned by the Inquisition, which taught that 
there was no need of a spiritual director, but that each soul 
was to trust to what he believes to be the sacred inspirations 
of the Holy Ghost and to follow them at all hazards. 



138 Objections to the practice of Direction. 

in reasoning upon direction. All the ob- 
jections you make reflect upon the obedi- 
ence due to your superior. 

3d. My director is very youngs and at my 
age it is very trying to ask counsel of one so 
young. 

We shall answer this by a few lines writ 
ten by St. Augustine to the Bishop Auxilien. 
*' Behold me, an old man, ready to listen 
to the counsels of a young bishop ; I, who 
have been a bishop so many years, accept 
the advice of a colleague who can hardly 
count a year of episcopacy." 

We shall answer still better by the words 
of Jesus Christ : *^ Unless you be converted 
and become as little children you shall not 
enter into the kingdom of heaven." 

We have recalled the example of Jesus 
Christ questioning and listening in the tem- 
ple to the Doctors of the law; we could cite 
excellent examples of the submission re- 
spect and deference manifested to young 
superiors by old religious who had formerly 
been superiors themselves. '^ In the religious 
state," says one of the early masters, *Uhere 
is no one, whatever his years, so ignorant 
as to think it unbecoming his age to prac- 
tice obedience, a virtue which God Himself 



Objections to the practice of Direction, 139 

held it no dishonor to practice. The exer- 
cise of humility and obedience is necessary 
to youth, but to old age it is honorable, it is 
its glory and its crown/' 

What is human knowledge, wisdom, and 
experience compared to the knowledge, wis- 
dom and experience of God ? Now God 
has sent His spirit to your superior to guide 
you to heaven. 

' ' The seniors/' says St. Thomas, " must 
receive lessons in certain respects, because 
in all matters relating to prudence no one 
is sufficient for himself/' 

4 th. When I go for direction I find noth- 
ing to say. 

Then you are a great Saint since there is 
nothing to reform in you ; not even a de- 
gree to be added to your virtues ! Is that 
your idea ? Truly we would not venture to 
believe you possessed of so much pride. 

St. Francis de Sales, St. Teresa, St. Francis 
Xavier, St. Vincent of Paul, always found 
something wherewith to reproach them- 
selves, and you can find nothing ! 

Alas ! may it not be that you fear to find, 
or rather, that another will find some- 
thing. 

However, in the next Chapter we will 



I40 Objections to the practice of Direction, 

state at some length for your benefit, the 
subjects which form matter of direction. 

5th./ wish to speak but I cannot, I feel my 
heart is closed. 

This, it must be acknowledged, is the 
greatest obstacle to direction when we seek 
it with the proper dispositions. 

When the heart is closed it is indeed hard 
to come before a superior who waits for you 
to speak, who may imagine perhaps that 
you are unwilling to speak, that you fear 
him, that you have no confidence in his 
light. 

Poor soul, I pity you, and yet I would say 
to you : When the time for direction comes, 
go to your superior, but go first before the 
Blessed Sacrament for a moment and say 
fervently : 

* ' My God, open my heart and my lips. 
Accept in expiation of my ill-made confes- 
sions these few moments which will be so 
painful to me." 

Then go with all simplicity, answer the 
questions which are put to you; at the end, 
if it be the custom, ask your superiors bless- 
ing and withdraw, satisfied that you have ful- 
filled a duty. 

This reticence is sometimes a temptation 



Objections to the p'adice of Direction, 141 

of the evil one, and this temptation is usual- 
ly dissipated by making it known to the di- 
rector ; it requires but a slight effort to say : 
*' I have a fear of you to day, " and these 
words will put you both at ease. 

It is sometimes a trial on the part of God, 
but it is only temporary, and passes after a 
time of patience and humility. 

It is sometimes a punishment of our too 
natural affection for this same director, or 
another person. God wishes us to be de- 
tached; let us profit by the lesson He gives 
us, and permit not our heart to rest in that 
of another. 

It may be the result of a delicate nervous 
state of health, or of a feeling of prejudice in 
consequence of a reproof, or of an uncharita- 
ble remark some one has made about the 
director. 

Let us pray, let us wait, let us suffer, and 
do our duty. Let us have the frankness to 
say when we seek direction : " Mother, have 
the kindness to question me, I will answer 
as well as I can." 

6 th. My Director is not discreet. 

Are you very sure ? If what you have 
told him is known, are you certain it was he 
who repeated it, and that you did not give 



142 Objections io the practice of Direclion. 

your confidence to any one else ? Or if he 
really spoke of it, are you sure he did not 
learn it from another as well as from you ? 

Secrecy is recommended to a director un- 
der pain sometimes of mortal sin. Theolo- 
gians so decide, concerning all revelations 
which relate to temptations, evil tendencies, 
and to all that could defame the person who 
confides in him. 

Certainly if the director is wanting in dis- 
cretion you are not obliged to reveal your 
conscience to him again, but beware that 
your judgment of him is not a grave sin in 
itself. 

'* In regard to the manifestation of con- 
science, or direction, whatever it may be, we 
should know,'' says P. Cotel, "that directors 
are obliged to strict secrecy concerning all 
the confidence one may give them, and 
that they cannot even communicate it to 
their superiors without the consent of the 
religious." 

Superiors may, when there is no question 
of sacramental secrecy, profit by such com- 
munications, for our good, and our person- 
al guidance, and even for the good of the 
community ; but on the express condition 
that they do nothing of a nature to reveal 
to others what has been confided to them. 



Objections to the practice of Direction. 143 

Moreover, as a religious confides in a su- 
perior as a father, not as a judge, the latter 
has no right in consequence of this confi- 
dence, to take severe measures against his 
subject, though he is permitted sometimes 
to gently reprove him, and even to correct 
him by imposing some salutary and fatherly 
penance. In a word, superior and subject, in 
their relations with each other, must be ani- 
mated solely by a spirit of love and char- 
ity. 

The one opens his heart to find succor, 
light, consolation ; the other meets him with 
special affection and kindness to sustain, 
help, encourage, and enlighten him, but not 
to severely reprove or punish him ; and the 
superior is far from esteeming a subject 
less, who thus opens his heart through a 
motive of virtue !* 

*The manifestation of conscience which the director has re- 
ceived, obliges him to observe absolute secrecy, even concern- 
ing virtues and special favors from God. It is upon this 
principle, that P. Regnora, does not fully approve the con- 
duct of some confessors who, after the death of their penitents, 
make known the singular privileges of innocence or virginity 
with which they were favored, when the confessors liave no 
knowledge of these things, except through the confessional. 
— Schram. 



144 Objections to the practice of Direction. 

7th. My Director says nothing to me, or al- 
ways reproaches me. 

The first is a very trifling objection. Pro- 
fit by the little he says to you, and you will 
become a Saint. 

Are you not yourself to blame for his re- 
serve, with your distrustful timid manner, 
your reluctant words, your half avowals, 
your vague declarations ? 

Go to him frankly, and he will be open 
with you. '' Do not wish/" wrote Mother 
Emilie, ** that your superior should say a 

great deal to you If you are simple, like 

a child, a few words will be sufficient for you." 
*' We should beware,'' says Fr. Faber, '^ of 
driving our director into much speaking, 
either by acting on his hurnan respect, or his 
natural kindness, or wearying him by im- 
portunity. There is, after all, little to be said 
where growth is so slow as it is in the spiritual 
life. A conversation between an oak and the 
woodman would surely come to an end 
soon, if growth and development, blight, 
birds, bees, and ivy, were the only subjects 
of conversation, and it was not allowed to 
pass into idle, irrelevant matters. For an 
oak does not make an inch a month, either 
of trunk or twig, and it could hardly expect 



Objections to the practice 0/ Direction. 145 

to have its bark brushed, and varnished, 
and picked out with gold. So the soul is not 
revolutionized every day. To-day is yester- 
day's brother, and to-morrow's also. 

"' What is there to be said ? All this talk- 
ing leads to our making new starts in new 
directions, after each palaver. It is taking 
up devotions and throwing them down again, 
like a child restless amid his toys. It is heap- 
ing practices upon practices, and getting the 
fruit out of none of them. It is applying 
remedies, and then applying others before 
the first have had time to take effect. It i^ 
driving God." 

Nor must you complain of the continual 
reproofs which you say you receive. 

Either they are merited, and in this case 
amend, or at least show a good will to do 
better, and make some effort, — or they are 
not merited you believe, then humble your- 
self, be patient, offer to God the suffering 
the unfavorable judgment causes you, justi- 
fy yourself with simplicity if you wish, but 
quietly and without any bitterness, and 
tranquilly await your justification, which will 
not be long in coming. 



146 Objections to the practice of Direction. 

8th. After seeking direction I return wearied 
and dissatisfied. 

Because you seek it only for consolation, 
when your sole object should be to find in it 
means of sanctification and of knowing the 
will of God. 

Consolation is sometimes granted by God 
as a reward, as an encouragement, but it is 
not due. 

It is rare, however, that God does not 
give it sooner or later; we promise it to you 
in His name, if you seek direction in a 
spirit of faith, with simplicity and an ardent 
desire to become better ; try. 

This weariness and discontent, created by 
direction in which the heart has not been at 
ease, profoundly discourages the soul if she 
have not the strength to wait and generously 
accept the trial. 

One of the causes of this discontent is our 
too eager desire to find in our director all 
the spiritual consolations we want, and if this 
desire is not satisfied, we are disconcerted, 
saddened, and we complain. 

We believe that all interest on the part of 
the director has ceased, we doubt whether 
what he counsels is suitable for us, we want 
something different from what he tells us, 



Objections to the practice of Direction, 147 

and we consider ourselves desolate and 
abandoned. 

Doubtless such souls do not seek direc- 
tion from any reprehensible motive, but they 
would be relieved of a burden which op- 
presses them, find a support which will sen- 
sibly help them to rise above their miseries, 
that they may no longer feel the weight of 
the trials God sends them. In a word, they 
would like to feel themselves borne along 
the road to heaven, and avoid all fatigue 
and ail difficulties. This is an opportunity 
for recalling the following words so fruitful 
in applications : ^*If it were thus, where 
would the martyrdom of life be ? " 

Generally the mission of a director is to 
teach us to endure our trials more meri- 
toriously rather than to lighten them, — to 
enlighten the soul upon its true interests, — 
to lead it to God and gradually lead it to 
rest in God alone. 

Want of faith is another cause of this dis- 
satisfaction and this weariness after confes- 
sion as well as direction. Hear these words 
which were addressed to a soul like yours : 

1st. ''You lack faith in the grace of state 
granted to every soul of good will, enabling 
it to worthily approach the sacrament of Pen- 
ance; — this prrace attached to one's state is 



148 Objections to the practice of Direction. 

threefold : The first enables you to reveal 
your soul to your director as God wishes it 
to be revealed. Mark you, as God wishes 
it to be revealed, and not as you wish. 

The second grace enables you to thorough- 
ly comprehend the advice, the counsels of 
your director. You always comprehend 
them sufficiently when you seriously wish to 
understand and profit by them. 

The third consists precisely in that im- 
mediate succor granted you by God to en- 
able you to do His will manifested through 
your director who is His minister to you. 

Have you faith in this triple grace ? Alas ! 
your disquiet convinces me that your faith 
on this point is null. 

You lack faith in the grace of state pos- 
sessed by your confessor. He also has a 
triple grace — the grace to hear you, the 
grace to understand you, the grace to answer 
you. 

Admire here a delightful mystery. God 
gives the priest a supernatural hearing and 
in the sacrament of penance a hearing which 
may be called sacramental. 

You wish to represent something to him 
one way, alw^ays, doubtless, in good faith and 
with an intention to act uprightly, — he, en- 
lightened by God, understands it in a totally 



Objections to the practice of Direction. 149 

different manner. Is he in error ? No, 
certainly not ! He understands as God 
wishes him to understand. He gives you 
a decision which you did not expect, and this 
decision is from God, it is the only one you 
need at the time, and the more firmly you 
hold to it the nearer you will be to the truth. 

You lack faith in confession, in the effi- 
cacy of the Sacrament, and the virtue of 
absolution. The sublime words of absolu- 
tion have been uttered over your soul, you 
wished to be sincere, you have taken the usual 
precautions, you are not conscious of any 
obstacle to the grace of pardon. The sub- 
lime words have produced their effect. 

You must believe this. Then never say : 
" I know not how to make myself known.'' 
We always know how to do what we heartily 
wish. 

Do not say : **I am not known." God 
knows you ; you go to the priest as to God, 
therefore the priest knows you. Know more- 
over that it is easy for a priest, had he ever 
so little experience in the guidance of souls, 
to recognize those whom Godsends to him. 
He has grace for this. 



1 50 Objections to the practice of Direction, 

9th. / would prefer to seek my direction in 

writing. 

Two motives impel us to this resolution. 
The first, hardly an acceptable one, to avoid 
the confusion we experience in speaking ill 
of ourselves ; the second, a reasonable one 
sometimes, to be more free. 

We leave these permissions to directors, 
but we think that when direction can be 
sought in person, it is better. {See the decis- 
ions of the following Chapter.) 

When one is at a distance from his di- 
rector, we most certainly do not prohibit writ- 
ing him, we even recommend religious who 
have left the mother house, in which their 
novitiate was made, to write to their superior- 
general, nor do we censure letters written to 
a priest who formerly directed us and whom 
Providence has removed from us, provided 
this correspondence be sanctioned by obedi- 
ence. We should not have those pages 
so full of salutary counsels written by St. 
Francis de Sales, Bossuet, Fenelon, if the 
pious souls to whom they were addressed 
had not been able to correspond with these 
men of God ; but, here particularly, we enjoin 
prudence and reserve. 

Our spoken words vanish, but our written 



Objertions to the practice of Direction, 1 5 1 

words remain. Doubtless directors preserve 
no letter containing intimate revelations of 
the soul, but one cf such letters may be for- 
gotten, or go astray. 

Here again we have no precise rules to 
give, do as your directors allow you. 

loth. lam afraid of importuning and troubling 
my Director. 

This is one of the most specious pretexts 
of the devil, and one which makes most im- 
pression on timid souls. First of all, your 
director knows very well that he is there to 
be importuned, as you in your human lan- 
guage express it, but which he, in divine 
language, calls gaining merits. 

Have you ever heard a merchant com- 
plain of being disturbed every moment to 
sell and make bargains ? — Have you ever 
heard a physician complain of the number 
of his patients ? — Your director is paid by 
God for every disturbance. 

Do not forget that the revelation you 
make to your director of the interior senti- 
ments of your soul, is the greatest mark of 
esteem and confidence you could give him, 
and that this confidence necessarily disposes 
his soul to pity, compassion, and affection. 

But he is sometimes surprised into showing 



152 Objections to the practice 0/ Direction, 

temper, you say. Are you very sure ? And 
if true, may it not be a weakness due to physi- 
cal weariness, to the fadgue of long interviews 
which preceded your arrival, to an extra 
amount of work, which is pressing upon 

him moreover, he will endeavor to make 

you forget, by greater attention to you, this 
moment of weakness, of which he quickly 
repented. 

Do not, of course, be importunate, but 
also, do not be too timid, and above all, do 
not judge unfavorably. 

When seeking direcdon, say only what is 
necessary — express it frankly — show your- 
self submissive and grateful, — do not ob- 
stinately or haughtily contest; have the good 
faith to simply believe without any ulterior 
thought, that one is hurried, when he tells 
you he is ; take the suggestion, to come back 
later, simply as it is said, and not as an indef- 
inite postponement, or a mark that you are 
troublesome, — show that you appreciate the 
advice you receive. In a word let conli* 
dence be apparent in your countenance and 
words, and be sure that you will always 
meet with a visibly kind reception. 



CHAPTER SEVENTH. 

Matter of Direction. 

Before entering into detail upon what 
forms matter of direction, we think it neces- 
sary to give the following counsels which 
we find in Les Principes de la Vie Religieuse, 
par le P, Cotel, and in Le Gouvernemeni des 
Communautes Religieusesy par P. Valuy. ^ 

L 
Greneral principles on the matter of Direction. 

The general doctrine of ascetic writers on 
the manifestation of conscience which re- 
ligious owe their superiors cannot apply 
equally to all superiors of communities. 
Doubdess, any one who enters the difficult 
way of perfection, should not wish to walk 
therein alone and undirected, and it is to 
aid, enlighten, and preserve souls from il- 
lusions that God has not only given them 
rules to follow, but also superiors to consult. 

Nevertheless, we conceive that there is a 
great distinction to be made on the point in 



1 54 Matter of Direction, 

question, between superiors who are priests 
and superiors who are not. The first have 
the knowledge and grace of the priesthood, 
both of which are wanting to the second. 
The first being capable of exercising, and in 
fact possessing, jurisdiction, a religious may 
confide the secrets of his conscience under 
the sacramental seal of confession, which is 
impossible with the second. 

Hence it manifestly follows, that the ac- 
count of conscience such as the masters of 
the spiritual life speak of, is completely due 
only to superiors who are priests, and that 
the others can have no right to it, if there be 
any right about it, save in a much more re- 
stricted degree which we shall call direction. 
In support of this conclusion, P. Cotel cites 
a decree of the Congregation of Rites which 
we will give later, and which makes the 
manifestation of conscience a point of 
perfection doubtless, but leaves it optional 
and not of obligation. 

In religious Orders of women, and even of 
men where the superior is not a priest, three 
things are reputed as not falling under the 
rule concerning the manifestation of con- 
science : 

That which relates to sin. 

That which requires a theological decision. 



Matter of Direction^ 155 

Temptations of a nature to make one 
blush or excite the passions. 

These things come within the province of 
confession. 

Nevertheless, a subject trusting to the dis- 
cretion of his superior, may in certain cases, 
lor his profit and consolation go further than 
the rule requires on this point. 

There are confidences which may be per- 
mitted but cannot be exacted.* 

^ ' In saying, " remarks P. Gautrelet " that 
the object of the manifestation of conscience 
was not to reveal the sins one may have 
committed, we did not claim that a subject 
was prohibited from opening his soul to his 
superior on this point ; this may be even nec- 
essary sometimes to make one's self known, 
but it has its disadvantages ; there are even 
faults of a certain nature which it is not ex- 
pedient, ordinarily at least, to declare outside 
of confession. 

" Therefore we cannot too strongly recom- 
mend discretion on this point to superiors 
of religious communities ; we could cite in 
support of this recommendation, certain facts 

* " We must endeavor as much as possible," wrote M6re 
Emilie, "to conceal nothing from the person who directs us, 
if we would be safely directed, except that which concerns 
the most delicate of all virtues, on which subject we must use 
reserve and only express ourselves according to our needs m 
the holy tribunal." 



i 5^ Maiier of Direction, 

amusing in their absurdity, but for the pain- 
ful feelings excited in our heart by the abuse 
of power in a thing so sacred, and the spe- 
cies of profanation which results therefrom, 
to one of the most august sacraments of the 
Church. 

** Happily these aberrations are rare. 
*' If there was ever a founder of an Order 
who had the practice of direction at heart 
It was St. Ignatius: ^Let all/ he says, 
' make themselves completely known to their 
superiors, concealing nothing from them; 
not ^even the depth of their own con- 
science.' Yet, what says Rodriguez, that man 
so versed in theology, and so perfect in the 
ways of God, in explaining this article of 
the constitutions of his holy founder? He 
teaches us that we must begin by distin- 
guishing with great care that which is sin 
from that which is not, — and he declares on 
the one hand, that in virtue of this point of 
the rule, subjects should, in the manifes- 
tation of conscience, reveal to their superior 
all their imperfections, and infirmities, make 
known to him their failings, their evil inclin- 
ations, and tell him their faults ; — on the 
other hand, he states most positively that the 
intention of the rule and his holy founder 
concerning all that we call grievous sin, is 



Matter of Direction. 1 57 

that it be not declared out of confession. 
He even adds, that superiors should not 
question persons out of confession upon 
things which it is extremely shameful to ac- 
knowledge nor even permit them to speak to 
them of these things. 

*^ * It is in the sense of this decision/ adds 
P. Lafiteau, * that we must understand the 
following paragraph in the constitutions of 
many religious Orders : The novice, in taking 
the habit, should give her superior an abridged 
history of her life, of the good as welt as ^ the 
evil, reveal her temptations, her interior trials, 
discover her heart, and let its inmost recesses be 
known to her superior. This does not mean 
that the novice is obliged to make a confes- 
sion of the sins of her life to her superior. 
Thus the constitutions add that this man- 
ifestation should be made summarily and 
briefly, and be sufficient to enable the su- 
perior to better understand how to guide 
her/' 

The Congregation of Rites composed of 
Bishops and regulars established at Rome 
by the Sovereign Pontiffs, has several times 
said, in approving religious Institutes sub- 
mitted to its examination : 

'^ For the present, we restrict the manifes- 
tation of conscience to public transgressions 



158 Matter 0/ Direction. 

of the ruie and to progress in virtue, all the 
rest being treated of with the confessor; and 
this manifestation is also simply optional, 
not obligatory nor formally prescribed, and 
it must even be rendered verbally and not 
by letter. '' 

A pious and learned ecclesiastic, consult- 
ed upon constitutions which were to be 
sent to Rome for approbation, thus express- 
ed himself concerning manifestation of con- 
science ; 

''I think it indispensable to prescribe 
what follows in order to obviate a multitude 
of disadvantages and imprudences. 

'' I St. That the sisters, though having to 
render with confidence and frankness an ac- 
count of their interior dispositions to their 
superior, be in no way obliged to reveal to 
her their sins, past or present. 

'^ 2d. That this account rendered, may in 
no way prevent the sisters from treating of 
their interior with perfect liberty and frank- 
ness with their confessor.'' 

The theologian Collet states this case 
of conscience : ** If a superior wishes to 
oblige one of her religious to reveal to her 
her most intimate thoughts, is the relig- 
ious obliged to obey?" Here is Collet's 
reply : 



Matter of Direction. 159 

'* Certainly, confidence in the lights of a 
wise and experienced religious may be of 
much service to a religious. A superior 
who thoroughly knows his subject, sustains 
him when discouraged, moderates his ex- 
cessive fears, reforms his vicious tendencies, 
confirms him in his good desires, secures 
him against the illusions into which timor- 
ous souls too often fall. It is upon this 
ground that the early solitaries wished that 
a religious should bear his heart in his hand 
when he went to his superior. But if we 
place this practice among the points of per- 
fection and humility. . . it will be very dan- 
gerous to make it of precept, and more than 
imprudent to command anyone, whoever he 
may be, to reveal all that passes in his 
heart. 

*^Let us not forget that confidence springs 
from the heart and is not to be commanded. 
Above all, let us not forget that it has fre- 
quently been the ruin of those who gave it 
and of those who received it.'' 

It was the grave abuses arising sometimes 
from exacting avowals in direction which led 
the Congregation of Rites to say, when ap- 
proving in 1863 the constitutions of an In- 
stitute of Brothers : " All that is said con- 



i6o Matter of Direction, 

cerning manifestation of conscience shall be 
effaced/'* 

Let us sum up these general rules by the 
tollowmg words of P. Gautrelet : 

''The direction which the superior is to 
give is not usually a purely interior direc- 
tion but rather exterior, and in the interest 
of the order ot the house; if she is to help 
the soul in the way of perfection, she should, 
particularly as superior, direct her subjects in 
the observance of the rule and discipHne 
and m the fulfilment of their duties, 

" This remark is subject to modification 
when there is question of religious supe- 
riors who are usually priests ; we refer here 
only to superiors of Orders of women • 
nor do we pretend to put upon the same 
level those who, in newly established con- 
gregations situated in the country have but 
two or three sisters with them. 

relttW%^^'''''°"- ?^ '^^ Congregatioi^^^^^teher general or 
Ifflf fo^ ? 'P-^^'^^ ""l"^' T "° "^^y ^^^^e" either the neces- 
sity for perfection or the advantages of direction. 

. Jl ^ ^ ^''^v''^ u ^"^^^"tee of the perfect liberty allowed a 
soul to manifest her conscience out of the confessional. 

1 hey confirm by their authority this wise rule which relie- 
lous superiors had already understood, that there can be 

?,X^"^^^fT^,"°ri^',^^^ !^ direction, any avowal of past 
faults, or of faults likely to be committed again. 

i-mally, they enlighten and reassure timorous souls who, al- 
ways fearing on the one hand that they have not made them- 
selves sufficiently known, and on the other, not daring To 
speak of their faults, live in great anxiety ^ 



Matter of Direction, 1 6 1 

"The question of direction in their case is 
still more simple, and the account of con- 
science, if it should exist at all, is reduced to 
a very small matter/' 

II. 

Subjects which may serve as matter of 
Direction. 

A virtue to be acquired^ or a fault to combat 
Behold the matter which may be called 
the foundation of all direction, and which, 
though we have nothing special to say, will 
always furnish the director an opportunity 
to give a counsel, and the soul directed 
an occasion to speak of her efforts. 

Your first care should be to ask your 
director : What is the virtue I must endeavor 
to acquire? What is the fault I must com- 
bat .? 

Then, when you go to him, say simply : I 
come to render you an account of my efforts. 

Then state the repugnance or attracdon 
you feel in practising the virtue ; — repug- 
nance or attraction : these two sentiments al- 
ternately predominate in each of us, without 
our being able to account for the cause 
which produces them ; be not alarmed then 
at the sudden change you will sometimes 
experience in your soul. 



1 62 Matter of Direction. 

State your efforts, or the little courage 
you have had to overcome yourself. 

The acts you have produced, or those 
which you have allowed to escape you 
through negligence, ill will, or lassitude. . . 

If necessary, in the beginning, note in 
writing, your gains and your losses. That 
is tedious you say ; yes, no doubt, but is not 
the perfection of your soul worth the trouble 
you would so readily take for the advance- 
ment of your fortune ? 

The virtue to be chosen first of all is fidel- 
ity to your rule and your exercises. This 
is where we must always begin, and it is 
not possible to advance in virtue without 
X\ii^ fidelity which gradually breaks and sub- 
dues the will and prepares it in a most spe- 
cial manner to receive God's graces. 

Answer the questions which are put to 
you, — accept with simplicity praise, encour- 
agement or punishment. 

Do not hesitate to recall the same thing 
each time you go to seek direction, if neces- 
sary; it is for your director to judge of your 
advancement and your efforts. 



Here are other subjects which offer abun- 
dant matter : 



Mailer of Direction. 163 

I St. Actions. 

If there has been any particular incident 
in our daily life, and the effect it has pro- 
duced upon us,— some folly, some frivolity, 
some thoughtlessness,— some humiliation, 
some failing... and what have been, or 
what are, the consequences we dread. 

If there has been any remarkable action : 
merited praise,— commendation received.. . 

If there have been any acts of virtue per- 
formed before God alone Tell them all 

with simplicity ; it is not vanity, but a need 
to be known and encouraged ; do not be de- 
terred by the thought that you are impelled 

by self love Leave your director to 

humble you, he will know how to find oc- 
casions of doing it, if God so inspire him; 
but always act with simplicity. 

Speak of the good actions you have omit- 
ted through indolence, want of zeal, through 
human respect, those which you have per- 
formed through habit without the intention 
of offering them to God. 

You will see how this attention to render 
an account of your conduct will accustom 
you to act for God and to fill your life with 
meritorious actions. 

We must manifest with simplicity, say the 



1 64 Matter of Direction. 

Instructions of the Visitation nuns, what- 
ever inclination or facility for virtue we find 
m ourselves; reveal the lights we have received 
from God; the good principles we entertain 
our projects for advancing in perfection'; 
mark the sentiments and inclinations which 
the Holy Spirit produces in the soul ; our 
relish for the things of God ; the attraction 
which He gives for prayer and the interior 
lite ; whether we are inclined to the practice 
of humility, of obedience, of mortification, 
of all the other virtues and in what 
way. 

2d. Temptations. 

Speak to your director of the temptations 
you experience, even though you in no way 
consent to them, particularly of those which 
are most usual. 

^'We sometimes persuade ourselves," says 
1 ronson, '' that it is not necessary to speak 
of the attacks of the evil one because we 
repel them ; nevertheless it is of the greatest 
importance for the director to know them 
ma community particularly, because not 
knowing our temptations he may counsel 
us things which he may have reason to be- 
lieve useful and which temptation would 
render dangerous to us." 



Matter of Direction, 165 

Then, should he not give us the means to 
resist ? 

Some inexperienced souls imagining a 
multitude of temptations to be a mark of 
being abandoned by God, of weakness, of 
a want of generosity, . . . blush to thus find 
themselves the sport of the evil one, and 
dare not, through fear of being despised, or 
thought guilty, make known their state. 

These souls are in error. The greatest 
Saints were a prey to the most frightful temp- 
tations ; God permitted it, to render them 
more vigilant, to give them an opportunity 
to manifest greater fidelity, to keep them 
in humility, to render them particularly 
more compassionate for others. 

Then tell your temptations with simplic- 
ity ; and your director, so far from experi- 
encing a feeling of repulsion, will be filled 
with pity and compassion. State, if known 
to you, the origin, source, cause, of these 
temptations, tell particularly how you resist 
them. 

Be prudent when there is question of 
temptations against the holy virtue ; speak 
of these only in general terms, if your 
director is not a priest, and reserve the 
avowal of your faults for confession. 

There are five kinds of temptations of 



1 66 Matter of Direction. 

which we should particularly render an 
account : 

Temptations against the commands im- 
posed upon us. 

Against the counsels given us. 

Against our vocation, and our state. 

Against the charge confided to us. 

Against any particular person, and even 
against our director, whom we suspect of 
not liking us. 

*' A holy religious/' says Mgr. Rey, " in- 
formed me that the evil one, the first enemy 
of salvation, rejoices very much at one thing, 
viz. : that a religious should not like to seek 
direction and particularly to make known 
his temptations ; for in this case, victory is 
assured to the evil one, he fights in single 
combat now, woe to him who is alone ! 

"There is nothing, on the contrary, 
which the devil dreads so much as being dis- 
covered ; an evil-doer fears the light. And 
the devil, who is the spirit of darkness, find- 
ing himself and his snares revealed, loses 
hope of victory, and takes flight, 

*^The devil wounds in silence : a serpent 
is hidden beneath a stone ; rash one, if you 
put your hand under it, you are bitten ; 
but raise the stone, expose the serpent, and 
he will instantly take flight. 



Matter of Direction, 167 

" Behold the conduct of the devil, who re- 
tires when he is exposed to the light ; as he 
is a monster of pride, he likes not to find his 
impotence and weakness discovered, and 
flies covered with shame. Then raise the 
stone, tell your director of this temptation 
and the serpent will hide himself in his cav- 
erns ! 

" Raise the stone, and tell your director 
this inclination for possessions, money, little 
articles of furniture, etc. 

'' Relate without constraint your tempta> 
tions against sobriety in eating, your tempta- 
tions to reserve bread, wine, meats and other 
things, and the evil one is vanquished, " 

3d. Ennui, 

Hours of sadness, discouragement, suffer- 
ings of heart, sufferings of soul, their real or 
supposed cause, the resistance we made, the 
consolations we sought, — here are almost 
inexhaustible subjects. 

In seeking direction, sometimes the hour 
is spent in tears. Let your tears flow, let 
them flow, poor afflicted soul, and do not fear 
to meet with cold, unsympathetic words 
which will close your heart. Where should 
you go to pour forth this burden which is 
killing you, if not to that heart friend who 



1 68 Matter of Direction, 

replaces the hearts you left in the world and 
to whom the Heart of Jesus has given His 
love ? 

'' God tries us sometimes by withdrawing 
His sensible grace from us and leaving us to 
our poverty and darkness. He abandons us 
to certain fears and anxiety concerning our 
state, our past sins, our continual falls. 
Ceasing to make His voice heard, He 
wishes that we have recourse to those who 
hold His place, to learn how we should 
bear ourselves in the trials and difficulties 
which we encounter, such as contradictions, 
disappointments in the duties of life, which 
excite in i us impatience, murmurs, com- 
plaints, vexations, repugnances. Frequently 
the ingenuousness of making known these 
sad and bitter impressions dissipates them 
and consoles us. 

^' Our frankness in using this remedy 
should go even as far as making known to 
the superior any trial we experience, or fear 
to experience through her. We should be- 
lieve that her charity will enable her to rise 
above the pettiness of any personal feeling, 
and that she will be more concerned for the 
suffering she unwittingly causes you than 
for any personal consideration." 



Matter of Direction. 169 

4th. Inclinations and Dispositions, 

Towards certain faults : excessive talking, 
raillery, jealousy^ for example — of such a 
person whom we like better than the 
others, — of such a charge, of such a 
study, . . 

State particularly any opposition we feel 
for virtue, 

This point is important, for the principal 
end of direction is to smooth the difficulties 
we find in the path ot devotion where we 
have such great need of counsel, support, 
consolation and encouragement. 

We find obstacles to virtue in our mind: 
doubts, perlexities, scruples, anxieties, which 
divert the attention from serious things and 
form an obstacle to prayer and the freedom 
necessary to perform our duties well. 

We find obstacles to virtue in our heart 
and will, and these obstacles come from our 
weakness in resisting evil, and practising 
virtue, — from our levity, our inconstancy, 
from the alternate inclinations for good and 
evil which we continually experience, ^^ — 
from our insensibility to the things of 
God — from an inclination for all that flat- 
ters our pride and our self love,— from the 
joys and sorrows created in us by vain 



1 70 Matter of Direction, 

things, — from our too eager desires, our 
excessive activity, our caprices even in vir- 
tue, — our attachment to our own senti- 
ments, — our discouragement and disrehsh 
for virtue, — our aversion and our antipathy 
to our neighbor, and sometimes even to 
those upon whom we depend. . . 

We cannot explain ourselves with too 
much simplicity upon these things, add the 
Instructions Visitandines, and particularly 
upon all that attaches the heart and turns 
the affections to creatures or anything 
which is not God, — or upon the evil habits 
we may have contracted, and the passions 
of which we are most frequently sensible. 

Tell the projects for good with which 
God seems to have inspired you, speak 
without fear of the hopes you nourish, the 
ideas you voluntarily entertain. 

Tell the virtue to which you are naturally 
inclined : is it devotion to others, activity 
in labor, a spirit of silence } . , , 

Dispositions of the body. 

Sickness, indefinite indisposition, acci- 
dents, fatigue, the cause Is it im- 
prudence ? Is it your work ? We often 
fail in simplicity to make known our fatigue, 
and particularly, to accept the alleviation 



Matter of Direction. 171 

which it has been thought wise to suggest to 
us. We fear to appear, in the eyes of our 
superior, a character without energy, we 
keep up to the last, and thus we become 
useless through our own fault and even a 
burden to the community. 

Dispositions of the Soul, 

For holy communion, the manner in which 
we prepare for it, the recollection with 
which we make our thanksgiving, the de- 
corum we observe on the day we have had 
the happiness of receiving Jesus Christ. * 
For meditation, how we make it, whether 
we follow the method, whether we like it, 
whether there is another which we prefer ? 
For the different points of the rule, the in- 
tentions with which we observed them, the 
facility, relish or repugnance we experienced 
in observing them; — the thoughts which 

* The confessor alone, has the right to regulate the num- 
ber of our communions; and even in communities it is he who 
should give permission for the extra communions not pre- 
scribed by the rule. 

Mgr. Landriot, in his beautiful work on Holy Communion, 
has added to the fifth conference a note on this subject which 
we think well to reproduce here : 

" In a book printed lately and which contains moreover 
excellent things, do we not find certain exaggerations in a 
totally opposite sense to Jansenism ? 

"We read : * The refusal of the permission to communicate 
more^or less frequently, given by a spiritual director, is a 
counsel, and not a strict law binding the conscience. The 



1 12 Matter of Direction. 

habitually occupy us ;— the graces with 
wmch God favors us ;— the books wh-'ch 
lead us to God, those we read, and those we 
woula like to read. 

For devotions; what are those for which we 
feel most inclination ? Are we easily moved 
before^ the Tabernacle, at the foo't of the 
Blessed Virgin s altar ? Does God cause us 
to experience joy and sweetness in His ser- 
vice, or are we cold, almost insensible, oblig- 
ed to force our lips to tell God we love Him ? 
Have we a special devotion to the Holy 
Eucharist, the Sacred Heart, the Blessed 
Virgin? What are our pious practices to 
honor Mary, to worthily prepare ourselves 
for Holy Communion ? What are the pious 
thoughts which make most impression upon 
us ?— Is it the fear of God's judgment, aban- 
donment to divine Providence, confidence 

T^li" communion, and even dailyTommunion is in fact a 
direct consequence of our baptism! We hold this r.Vhf d; 
^nwL'^'°':jJ'=?"' '^I'"^'' ^'"d if we consult on thfs p!h t an 
enhghtened priest penetrated with the spirit of the Church 

'is::it^\iT:?,r'''-^-^'' ^'--''^^' •^-^e.^t^^^o 

lnmce^nrVr'"'tT'''^l''°'?^"y opposed to the decrees of 

'To say that one need not follow the advice of his coiif,~!.^.- 
Id'toTh? 3^; " r^"!;,"?'"^ V 'heologiansran opmion o'^ot' 
of the ChS " '^'"^ °'^""" Doctors and to^he practice 



Matter of Direction. 173 

in our Lord, a tender and filial trust in 
Mary ? 

Dispositions of the mind. 

The studies we prefer, our readings, the 
course of reading we would like to follow. , . 
The direction of the mind is a very vast 
field which may, according to circumstances, 
give occasion for very useful counsels. 

What useful labors have been accomplish- 
ed for communities owing to the impetus, en- 
couragement and counsels afforded by di- 
rection ! 

How many religious, men and women, 
with but an imperfect knowledge of their 
ability and intelligence, would have spent 
their lives in puerile useless labors, had they 
not been guided by their superiors, to whom 
they simply submitted their writings and 
whom they obeyed as God Himself ! 

What treasures of intelligence buried 
through humility, indolence, or timidity, 
the word of a director has brought forth ! 
And on the other hand, what errors of doc- 
trine avoided ! what illusions destroyed ! 
what troubles prevented ! Generally, dis- 
trust any project, any thought, any idea of 
perfection promising great results, when we 
hesitate to make it known ta our superiors. 



174 Matter of Direction, 

Daily Life, 

Permissions to be asked and renewed — 
points of the rule to be expounded and ex- 
plained,— difficulties of every kind to be 
solved — an account rendered particularly of 
the manner in which we perform our labor 
and the forbearance we exercise towards those 
who labor with us. 

We think it well to reproduce here the 
followmg pages from our Little Manual of 
JSo vices : -^ 

A novice, more than all others, needs di- 
rection. The religious life is new to her ; 
all that she sees, all that she hears, aston- 
ishes her, and makes her wish to be enlight- 
ened upon a multitude of details which she 
needs to know ; the questions which press 
mto her soul form matter of direction. The 
novice easily experiences disquiet, disgust 
weariness, from a multitude of causes • at 
times there are even regrets in this poor 
heart which was so strong in the hour of 
sacrifice and believed that its strength could 
never be shaken . . . Must there not be 
some outpouring of these trials, and these 
vexations ? This outpouring is matter of 
direction. 

The novice understands piety as it is fre- 



Matter of Direction. 1 75 

quently understood in the world : with 
self-chosen, sweet, easy, independent prac- 
tices, free from any precise rule, — free par- 
ticularly from sacrifices and contradictions ; 
and she is grieved at not being able to pray 
as much as formerly, at finding herself re- 
stricted to a certain method of prayer which 
does not please her, at no longer feeling 
any relish for Holy Communion, and she 
becomes discouraged and alarmed . . . To 
calm this trouble, must she not expose the 
state of her soul ? This exposition is 
matter of direction. 

The novice hears readings and instructions 
which are all new to her ; they speak 
of the maladies of the soul ; of the means 
of recognizing them ; of the remedies to be 
applied to them ; of the obligation of a re- 
ligious to become perfect, etc. . . Books 
give only generalities ; must she not have 
that explained which she only partially un- 
derstands ? These explanations are mat- 
ter of direction. 

We see that direction is an outpouring 
of the heart, — the communication of in- 
timate joys, — consolation in trial, — allevi- 
ation in crosses, — strength to support our 
misery, — the rule applied to our weaknesses 
and our needs. In a word, it is salvation 



Matter of Dir^xiion 

made easy, life calm, and actions meritor- 
ious. 

# 

The directories of religious communities 
usually give a formula of direction or ac- 
count of conscience, or manifestation of 
conscience, as it is called in some houses. 
It IS well to follow this faithfully. Here is the 
formula which we find in Les Petits Traites, 
composed by the Blessed De La Salle : 

Points upon which each Brother should ex- 
amine himself to render an account of his conduct 

First Week. 

ist Whether he encounters or has en- 
countered any hindrance, from what source, 
and since when. 

2d. Whether he has not had some trials 
of mind, or temptations ; by what they were 
caused, how he bore himself in them, whether 
he have not given occasion to them in some 
way ; what their effect was ; whether they 
have disappeared. 

3d. Into what faults he has fallen since 



Matter of Direction, 177 

the last account of conscience ; whether 
he fell knowingly and deliberately ; whether 
he took means to correct himself and what 
these means were. 

4th. Whether he has striven to advance 
in the way of perfection, or whether he has 
diminished his efforts, and in what he remarks 
this ; what are the virtues he has tried more 
particularly to acquire ; whether he has had 
any inspirations, and whether he was faith- 
ful to them. 

5th. To what he feels most usually inclin- 
ed ; whether he does not yield to his humor ; 
whether he does not follow his natural in- 
clinations or his repugnances. 

6th. Whether he practices mortification of 
the spirit and the senses ; whether he has 
practiced any extraordinary mortification, 
and whether he did it with permission. 

7th. Whether he has faithfully and fervent- 
ly performed the penances imposed upon 
him ; whether he was unfaithful to them, how 
many times, and for what reason ; what were 
those he neglected, and whether the omission 
caused disedification. 



lyS Matter of Direction, 

Second Week. 

8th. How, and with what interior disposi- 
tions, he receives humiliations, rebuffs, and 
contempt. 

9th. With what disposition he receives re- 
marks upon his faults, and reprimands, whe- 
ther he profits by the latter to amend his life. 

loth. Whether he daily accuses himself of 
his faults with simplicity, as if before God ; 
whether he does not, on the contrary, do it 
through habit, and without any feeling of re- 
pentance. 

nth. What affection he has for obedience, 
and whether he is disposed to obey all that 
is enjoined upon him ; what difficulty or re- 
pugnance he experiences in obeying. 

1 2th. Whether he is faithful to do nothing 
without permission and of his own volition, 
not even the least things ; whether, on the 
contrary, he has failed in this respect, how 
often, and whether he has thus given pain. 

13th. Whether he strictly observes silence 
at home and abroad ; whether he has spoken 
to some of the Brothers in particular, or to 
outsiders ; whether these conversations were 
held with permission, and what was the 
nature of them. 

14th. Whether he strictly observes the 



Matter of Direction. 179 

other rules of the Institute ; whether he ob- 
serves them fervently or slothful ly ; what are 
those in which he has failed, and for what rea- 
sons ; whether he respects them all as much 
as he should, and whether there are not some 
to which he is indifferent, or for which per- 
haps he entertains even contempt. 

15th. Whether he is faithful to be equally 
recollected at home and abroad ; whether he 
frequently, or rarely, enters into himself; 
whether he lives in habitual dissipation of 
spirit and the senses, whether he frequently 
recalls the presence of God ; whether he refers 
all his actions to Him, and performs them 
with the intention of pleasing Him. 



Third Week. 

1 6th. Whether he is assiduously faithful to 
all the exercises ; what are those in which he 
has failed ; how and with what intention 
has he acquitted himself of them. 

17th. In what book he has made his spirit- 
ual reading ; whether, during this time, he 
has not read other books than those which 
were given him for this purpose ; whether 
he is in the habit of reflecting upon what 
he reads ; whether he applies it, and whether 



1 80 Maif&r of Direction, 

he derives fruit therefrom. 

1 8th. What special fault has been the sub- 
ject of his particular examen ; what means 
he has taken to correct it, and whether these 
means were efficacious. 

19th. How he has made his meditation ; 
what fruit he has derived therefrom ; wheth- 
er, during it, he has been particularly care- 
ful to keep himself in the presence of God, 
and in what way ; whether, he has followed 
the method proposed ; upon what subjects 
he most usually meditates ; whether, before 
concluding, he takes resolutions, what they 
are, and whether he is faithful to them ; 
whether he has a relish and facility for this 
holy exercise, or whether he experiences in 
it difficulties and dryness; whether thediffi-^ 
culties he encounters and the repugnance 
he may feel for it do not render him less 
assiduous in practising it. 

20th. Whether he has always gone to con- 
fession with the community ; whether he has 
any feeling against the Confessor; what is 
the reason for any he may have ; whether he 
profits by his confessions. 

2 1st. Whether he feels an attraction for 
Holy Communion, with what dispositions he 
approaches the Holy Table, whether with fer- 
vor and devotion, or with sloth and tepidity ; 



Matter of Direction. i8i 

whether he voluntarily frequents it, what 
fruit he derives therefrom ; whether he dis- 
penses himself from the Holy Table without 
permission. 

2 2d. How he assists at mass, with what 
dispositions, with what attention ; whether 
he assists at the holy Sacrifice according to 
the method prescribed, or follows another 
method ; what is the other method ! 



Fourth T?7eek. 

23d. Whether his charity for his brothers 
extends equally to all ; whether his affec- 
tion for them is not natural; whether he loves 
them only in God ,• whether he has not had 
some feeling against some of them ; what 
was the cause of it, and whether it continued 
for any length of time. 

24th. Whether there is not some Brother for 
whom he has a particular friendship, or with 
whom hes ha intimate intercourse, prohibit- 
ed by the rule. 

25th. Whether he likes his charge, and the 
exterior exercises of his profession ; whether 
he acquits himself of them punctually and 
faithfully and according to the rules, or 
whether he is indifferent to them. 



i82 Mailer of Direciim. 

26th. How he conducts the school ♦ 
whether he observes the rules ; what are those 
in which he most frequently fails ; whether 
tie does not yield to impatience ; whether he 
neglects anything ; whether he does not lose 
his time, and how he employs it ; whether 
he has changed nothing in his class, intro- 
duced some innovation ; whether he was faith- 
ful to follow the lessons, to correct all faults 
and for this purpose, made use of the signs 
prescribed in the Conduite des Ecoles ; wheth- 
er he has not spoken to some of the scholars 
without necessity and too familiarly ; wheth- 
er he has constantly observed a becoming 
reserve and circumspection in his intercourse 
with them ; whether his attentions and char- 
ity are equally bestowed upon all. 

27th. Whether he earnestly endeavors to 
make his pupils advance in reading and 
writing; whether of himself he has not 
changed the pupils' lessons, and for what 
reason ; whether order and silence reign in 
the school, if not, for what reason. 

28th. Whether he is zealous for the instruc- 
tion and the salvation of the children; wheth- 
er he consequently devotes himself princi- 
pally to inspiring them with piety ; whether 
ne vigilantly watches over them during pray- 
er, the holy sacrifice of the Mass, and the 



Matter of Direction, 183 

other religious exercises, to see that they bear 
themselves with proper modesty and respect ; 
whether he has taken pains to teach them 
the Catechism ; whether many or only a 
few of the children know it ; whether he 
teaches it to them every day ; whether he 
prepares himself for it as he should, and 
whether he teaches it in a way calculated to 
give them a knowledge of Christian Doctrine, 
by developing the Catechism text with ques- 
tions and explanations suited to their capac- 
ity. 

29th. What has been his treatment of the 
pupils ; whether he has not been too harsh, 
or too lenient ; in what spirit, with what feel- 
ings, and in what way he has corrected them; 
whether he has not done it through temper, 
impatience or even passion; what good or 
bad effects resulted from his corrections. 

30th. Whether he has not dispensed him- 
self from Holy Communion without the con- 
sent of the Brother Director, or even with- 
out the order of the confessor, or through a 
want of devotion, and without any legitimate 
reason, and how often this has happened. 

* * 



1 84 Matter 0/ Direction, 

Here certainly is abundant matter of di- 
rection. 

What soul then, after attentively reading 
this Chapter can still say: '^ I know not what 
to say when I go to seek direction/' or, ** I 
derive no profit from seeking direction ? " 

Then seek direction, guided by a spirit of 
faith, and convinced that you are going to 
speak to God's representative, to a soul 
whose special mission is to hear you, to un- 
derstand you, to strengthen you, to counsel 
you, to sanctify you. 

Seek direction with simplicity. Let your 
director read your heart as an open book, let 
there be no secret recess or corner hidden 
from him, no reticence or half avowals ; re- 
serve for the confessional all that comes with- 
in the province of confession, but apart from 
your sins and, as we said, things of a nature 
to wound modesty, tell your fears, your pro- 
jects, your desires, your vexations, your dis- 
appointments, your joys, your successes. 

Peace, security, joy, are only purchased at 
this price. 

Go for your direction at the time marked 
for it. God attaches a special grace to this 
submission of a soul which does not act by 

its needs alone, but by God's will But 

do not wait for the days marked, if you are 



Matter of Direction, 185 

haunted by temptation, disquieted by fear, 
oppressed by uncertainty, tormented by an 
indefinable trouble and weariness. Go with- 
out fear to your director and tell him simply 
that you need him, and be sure that you 
will return to your daily life calmed, strength- 
ened, resigned and sometimes, even joyful. 



CHAPTER EIGHTH. 
Particular Counsels for Direction. 

We shall speak in this Chapter of the char- 
acter of pious persons,— of the different 
states in which they may find themselves,— 
of how they should comport themselves in 
these different states, and finally, we shall 
give, after St. Ignatius, a few rules for discern- 
mg whether what passes within us comes 
from God or the evil one. An extremelj 
important matter which will help the soul 
to know herself, and particularly, to make 
herself known, and which will help her to ap- 
pease her disquiet, when God permits that 
she is unable to see her director. 

I. 

Character of pious persons. 

''Among those who seriously labor to 
acquire solid piety and attain perfection, 
there are some who are of a cold phlegmatic 
disposition, others are naturally sad and mel- 
ancholy, others, finally, have an ardent sensi- 
tive nature. All these persons need to be 



Particular Counsels for Direction. 187 

differently directed, and all have different 
illusions to avoid. 

I St. Those who are of a cold, phlegmatic 
disposition should beware of wishing to walk 
in the path of virtue with those who are of 
an ardent, sensitive nature. The former 
will struggle in vain to resemble the latter. 
God does not ask it; Each nature has its 
grace and its way of attaining sanctity. They 
should not grieve at not experiencing the fer- 
vent sentiments which they observe in sensi- 
tive souls, but console themselves with the 
thought that notwithstanding the dryness of 
their heart, notwithstanding the weariness 
they experience in all their spiritual exer- 
cises, they may yet greatly please our 
Lord, by a true desire of perfection, and 
an apostolic zeal for the glory of God 
and the salvation of souls. The generous 
accomplishment of duties, stripped of all 
spiritual sensibility renders them more pleas- 
ing to God, as it proves them possessed 
of^more detachment from self, and more 
real devotion ; for it is neither a desire 
of consolation, nor personal satisfaction 
which impels them to be faithful, but only 
a principle of duty, and a sincere desire to 
please God. In the midst of the difficulties 
and trials arising from their disposition, they 



1 88 Particular Counsels for Direcfton. 

have need to remember frequently that trae 
love of God is manifested rather by works 
than by aifections and words. *'If you love 
me, keep my commandments ; " says Ouf 
Lord. " My little children, let us not love in 
word, nor in tongue," says the Apostle, ^*but 
in deed and in truth." 

2d. Persons of a sad, melancholy, pensive, 
self-concentrated disposition are naturally in- 
clined to consider the terrible truths of faith, 
to exaggerate the difficulties of virtue, and to 
magnify the faults they commit. 

They are inclined to examine and scrutin. 
ize every recess and corner of their hearts, 
and to abandon themselves to discourage- 
ment. 

Such persons are greatly to be pitied, they 
need firm, kind direction. They should 
apply themselves to the consideration of the 
consoling truths of our holy Religion, and 
absolutely prohibit themselves, as far as it is 
in their power, ail reflection, all examina- 
tion, which narrows the heart. Let them 
place with simplicity at the feet of Jesus 
Christ their spiritual infirmities, their faults, 
and their continual infidelities, and always 
rise with new courage. If, to use their own 
words, they find no means of advancing in 
virtue, let them try to advance in forgetful- 



Particular Counsels for Direction, 189 

ness of self and in confidence in God. This 
is what Our Lord earnestly asks of them. 

For such persons, their safeguard against 
the troubles, anxieties and remorse of a timid, 
pusillanimous conscience, is faithful submis- 
sion to a confessor. This submission is bet- 
ter for them than the most minutely detailed 
confession. 

3d. An ardent and sensitive nature is 
capable of great things, but it is also exposed 
to great illusions and grave wanderings. 
Such a character naturally seeks devotion 
and sensible consolations. He wishes to 
advance but, with all his strength, rapidly, 
and after his own fashion. He is inclined 
to extraordinary things, to corporal penances, 
and all that nourishes and excites his sensi- 
bility. He feels keenly at one time the 
attractions of grace, the reproaches of con- 
science, his infidelities, his ingratitude ; at 
another, an excessive propensity to evil, 
and the most violent attacks of temptations 
of every kind. These alternate emotions of 
good and evil fill him with anxiety, and dis- 
turb him extremely. He seeks good too 
impetuously and repels evil too fiercely ; he 
is astonished to still find himself so far from 
perfection. He vainly sighs for that serenity 
of soul and silence of the passions which are 



190 Particular Counsels for Direction. 

the fruit of long tried virtue, or the effect of 
a happy temperament Persons of an ardent, 
sensitive nature should be very distrustful of 
all that agitates them, of all that nourishes 
their sensibility, even in spiritual things. 
They should labor with sweetness and per- 
severance to gradually moderate their too 
great natural activity, to endure the instabil- 
ity of their heart, and to render their piety 
mature and reasonable^ rather than sentimental 
and affecting. 



II. 

Different states of pious sooIb. 

A state of consolation. — We call " Consola- 
tion, all that inclines the soul to the love of 
God, to detachment from creatures ; all in- 
crease of faith, hope, and charity ; peace, tran- 
quillity, compunction of heart, docility and 
spiritual pliableness." 

When the consolation is sensible, the 
soul is filled with ardor, she sighs for Our 
Lord, she bewails the little she does for His 
love ; she feels she is far from being all 
that He desires ! Deeply touched at all 
that God has done and daily continues to do 



Particular Counsels for Direction, 191 

for her, she would redouble her prayers, her 
pious practices, her penances. At times 
she is all on fire, so to speak, and nothing is 
difficult, nothing a burden, for grace upholds 
her. 

Let the faithful soul observe great prudence 
and discretion in this state of spiritual abun- 
dance ; let her moderate all these ardors, and 
beware of giving herself too much to these 
sensible consolations. — She should only value 
them in proportion as they strengthen her 
will in good. — Let her humble herself and 
reflect how weak she will be when God aban- 
dons her a little to her own strength, for the 
time of trial v/ill not be far distant. 

Yes, the faithful soul should be very 
prudent in a state of sensible consolation, 
for it is particularly at such times, that the 
angel of darkness transforms himself into an 
angel of light, that he may ensnare her with 
illusions.— He excites her to excessive pen- 
ances, long prayers, multiplied pious prac- 
tices, and all for the purpose of overwhelm- 
ing her, wearying her, making her attached 
to her spiritual practices and perform them 
through caprice. 

2d. A state of desolation.— '' Desolation 
is the opposite of consolation ; thus, all that 
leads the soul to base and terrestrial things, 



192 Particular Counsels for Direction. 

all weakening of faith, hope and charity, all 
trouble, anxiety, discouragement, dissipation, 
all attachment to one's own ideas, and 
intractableness, is desolation/' 

In this state, the soul no longer feels these 
heavenly ardors, these loving transports, 
these generous desires to labor and 
suffer for Jesus Christ. Spiritual things no 
longer move her ; prayer is a burden to her ; 
she is indifferent to Holy Communion; she 
would keep away from the Holy Table. 
She feels all her unworthiness, and what is 
more painful, cannot even bewail it. If she 
weeps, her tears seem to flow, not through 
love for God, but through pusillanimity, 
vexation, self-love. Perverse imaginings, 
thoughts more than worldly, sensual attrac- 
tions have taken the place of her pious 
thoughts, her sentiments of compunction and 
repentance. Temptations against faith and 
hope have replaced the abundance of heav- 
enly light and filial confidence in God. She 
can hardly be faithful to the most ordinary 
pious practices ; this soul, which formerly 
could not find sufficient time to pray and 
converse with God. Finally,she believes that 
God repels her, because of her numerous in- 
fidelities and base ingratitude. 

If the state of trial is not always so violent, 



Particular Counsels for Direction. 193 

it is none the less crucifying. This kind of 
insensibiUty, or spiritaal torpor is not rare in 
the ways of God, it is in itself a great cross 
to a naturally sensitive soul, which has for- 
merly tasted how sweet God is. If her tears 
at least could flow, but this consolation is 
denied her. Her heart is in exile."* 

III. 
Hew pious persons should bear themselves. 

To avoid falling into illusions in times of 
consolation, and yielding to discouragement 
in times of desolation and dryness, the only 
means is to freely open our heart to our 
director and completely submit to his de- 
cisions. 

It is he, when we are not subject to a rule 
in a community, who should regulate the 
time to be given to prayer, the method of 
making it, sometimes even the words in 
which we address God. 

It is he who should regulate our corporal 
penances, add, retrench, modify, as he thinks 
proper. 

He who should choose our spiritual read- 
ing, and know all the books we read. 

* p. Boone. 



194 Particular Counsels for Direction. 

He who should be kept informed of our 
good works, of those we wish to abandon, 
the new ones we wish to undertake and the 
motives which actuate us. 

To him should be confided our efforts, our 
progress in virtue, our spiritual joys, the 
trials God sends us. 

It is he who should regulate our confes- 
sions, even to the manner of our accusations, 
if he judges proper; our communions, even 
the manner of preparing for them and our 
thanksgiving. 

In a word, we must renounce our own 
views to follow those of the director. Despise, 
through obedience, the fears and troubles 
which would keep us from Holy Communion, 
simply make an act of contrition when the 
soul is disturbed by fear, and go forward at 
his word. This act of contrition and obe- 
dience takes the place of the most minute 
confession and consequently may calm any 
reasonable soul seriously desiring to love and 
serve God. 

If this tranquillity, the fruit of obedience, 
is not sensible, it is reasonable and real; that 
is, there are real and well founded motives 
for being reasonably tranquil, though the 
tranquillity be not sensible. SensibiUty is in 
no way required. 



Particular Counsels for Direction. 195 

Then let us be thoroughly convinced that 
any one who desires to advance in virtue, 
whatever his character^ age or condition, has 
great need to obey. It is obedience which 
indicates and prescribes the means of per- 
fection proper to every character, every age, 
every condition ; obedience, which wisely and 
prudently adapts these means to our degree 
of virtue or weakness ; obedience, which 
discriminately and gently modifies them ac- 
cording to circumstances. It is obedience 
which wards off dangers and illusions. She 
judges with a coolness and impartiality which 
we could not exercise in our own cause, 
If obedience exacts the greatest submission, 
the most complete, and oftentimes the most 
difficult abnegation, she also obtains very 
great graces and signal favors from God. 

'* The obedient man shall tell of victory. '' 

IV. 

Rules for discerning the spirit of God. 

We shall only indicate the principal ones 
after St. Ignatius, Cardinal Bona, Alvarez. . . 
These indications though briefly stated may 
be of great service to a soul who sincerely 
desires sanctification. 



196 Particular Counsels for Direction. 

ist Rule.— 77/^ spirit of God is recognized 
by its fruits. 

This is a fundamental rule, it rests upon 
the words of Jesus Christ. '' By their fruits 
you shall know them. . . .the evil tree bring- 
eth forth evil fruit. '' Let us observe, however, 
that there is not question here of certain good 
works in particular, but of the sum of one's 
good works. 

There may be illusion in a particular 
work, but the illusion cannot affect the sum 
of a long series of good works. 

Hence we must conclude : ist. That a soul 
faithful to observe the law of God and the 
obligations of his state, who loves to practice 
charity, to perform corporal and spiritual 
works of mercy, who never deliberately omits 

one of his duties even the smallest is 

impelled by the spirit of God. 

2d. That the soul who knows how to 
judge and speak of the excellence of virtue 
and perfection, but when occasion offers does 
not practice it, who knows in what patience 
consists, but complains and gets angry when 
another offends against him. . . is not com- 
pletely filled with the spirit of God. 

Let us remark, however, that we must re- 
gard as impelled by a good spirit one who is 
generally faithful notwithstanding occasional 
defections. 



Particular Counsels for Direction. 197 

2d Rule. — The spirit of God is recognized 
by the interior affection and intention to please and 
serve God. 

Hence we must conclude : ist. That when 
exterior good works are accompanied with 
laudable interior sentiments, such as the in- 
tention to please God, to expiate one's sins, 
to win souls to God, etc., these works are the 
effect of the spirit of God. 

2d. That a soul which frequently thinks 
of God, which habitually lives in the presence 
of God, and which is restrained by the 
thought of this presence, is impelled by the 
spirit of God. 

A fervent spirit zealous for the good of its 
neighbor, though its fervor exceed some- 
times the just limits of prudence, is good at 
least in substance. 

3d Rule. — The spirit of God is recognized 
by a deep humility. 

Hence we must conclude : ist. That a 
soul which likes to speak of itself, which 
seeks to be seen, which delights to contem- 
plate its works, is not impelled by a spirit 
of God. 

2d. That a soul which endeavors to con- 



198 Particular Counsels for Direction. 

ceal some of its charitable actions, which 
controls and repels every disparaging thought 
of its neighbor, which unaffected Iv seeks the 
society of an inferior, which stifles by a 
thought of faith every murmur which arises in 
Its heart, is impelled by a spirit of God. 

4th Rule.— Z/^^ spirit of God is recogjiized 
by a calm and resigned acceptance of the mortifi- 
cations which God sends. 

Hence we must conclude : ist. That it is 
not the number of mortifications one imposes 
on himself which indicates the spirit of God, 
but the generous accepting of those mortifica- 
tions which God sends. To endure contempt 
without manifesting resentment, correction 
without seeking to justify one's self, to live 
for a time under an unfavorable judgment, 
and to neglect no duty, manifest indeed the 
spirit of God. 

2d. That the soul inclined to mortify 
herself by cutting off certain enjoyments, 
by retrenching superfluities, by denying her 
senses, if she does all she can to conceal 
from every one her privations, her sufferings, 
her self-denials, if particularly her only ob- 
ject be to render herself more pleasing to 
God by overcoming her senses which divert 



Particular Counsels for Direction, 199 

her thoughts from Him or to expiate her 
sins. .,is impelled by the spirit of God. 

5th Rule. — The spirit of God is recognized 
by docility of mind. 

Hence we must conclude : ist. That a 
soul manifesting a simple, affectionate, com- 
plete obedience to her superiors, and to her 
directors, with the ever-present thought that 
God makes known to them what He requires 
of her, is impelled by the spirit of God. 

2d. That a soul who, even in the ac- 
quisition of virtues, and the pursuit of per- 
fection, goes neither more rapidly nor more 
slowly than she is commanded, even though 
she may not recognize the wisdom of the 
command, who conforms herself in all things 
with fidelity and humility to the will of her 
spiritual guide, is certainly impelled by the 
spirit of God. 



CHAPTER NINTH. 
Direction in practice. 

We can better compass the end of this 
Chapter by giving a practical illustration of 
direction, that is a pious conversation, be- 
tween a soul and her director. We shall 
see, by the following dialogue, with what 
simplicity we must expose the state of our 
soul, the manner of making this exposition, 
the questions we may ask,— the objections 
we may offer,— the submission finally with 
which we must receive the decisions and 
counsels given us. 

These pages are taken from L Esprit de 
la Mere Emilie, an excellent work, in which 
pious souls will find counsels of great wis- 
dom, and examples which will lead them 
to love virtue.* 



* Mother Emilie, Founder and first Superior-General of 
the Congregation of the Holy Family in the diocese of Rodez, 
died in 1853. A decree signed the 27th of March, 1872, intro- 
duces the cause of her beatification and canonization. Her 
life is written by Leon Aubineau, and " Her Spirit" from 
which we borrow these pages, was written by Abb6 Barthe. 



Direction in practice, 20 1 

First Direction. 

Upon Humility, 

The Superior: — Give me an account, my 
child, of your efforts against your predomi- 
nant fault. Have you made your particular 
examen upon it every day ? 

The Religious : — Yes, Mother, 1 even keep 
a strict account of how many times I speak 
of myself during the day ; but I confess I 
am not faithful to impose a penance on my- 
self every time as you recommended. I 
really despair of ever becoming humble, 
for the more I apply myself to acts of humil- 
ity, the stronger I feel my pride ; when it 
does not manifest itself in actions, it does in 
thoughts which I would not dare to tell any 
one. 

The Superior: — Do not be astonished at 
that ; when we seriously devote ourselves to 
the acquisition of a virtue, we are usually 
strongly tempted to the contrary vice; and 
frequently the more we practice it the more 
empire the contrary vice seems to have over 
us because of the temptations which harass 
and trouble us. 

But this empire really diminishes without 
our knowledge, so to speak, when we con- 



202 Direction in practice. 

tinue to struggle against the assaults which 
importune and weary us. Do not be dis- 
couraged, Sister ; only do not fail to inflict a 
slight penance upon yourself after each 
fault, such as making a very sincere act ol 
contrition, devoutly kissing your crucifix, 
making a pious visit to some of the altars 
in the house, or kissing the floor three or 
four times with a feeling of contempt for 
yourself; and I beg of you do not let me 
hear you say again : I (despair. We must 
despair of nothing when we have God's 
assistance, and you have it, Sister. He gives 
you light to know your faults, he gives you 
a desire to become humble, is not this 
already a great deal ? And have you not 
always had the grace of prayer which will 
obtain for you still greater succor?. . . Oh 1 
my child, I have a strong hope that your 
desire will be granted, but not without hu- 
miliations. Come, tell me your thoughts 
of pride. 

The Religious:— Moih^i, I dare not, be- 
sides I do not dwell upon everything that 
passes through my mind, and I even try not 
to remember it. 

The Superior: — May it not be the fear of 
having to reveal these thoughts which makes 
you quickly reject them .? In that case you 



Direction in practice, 203 

are influenced by a subtle snare of self-love. 
What do you think ? Is not this your 
motive ? 

The Religious: — Yes, Mother, it influences 
me a little, but then, what necessity is there 
to reveal all that one thinks, when you do 
not consent to these thoughts and they give 
you pain? 

The Superior: — If we would triumph over 
pur pride we must humble ourselves ; and 
one of the greatest acts of humility we can 
make is to simply reveal our miseries to the 
person who directs us. Certainly you are 
not obliged to tell all your thoughts of pride, 
but I think that God asks this of you, and if 
you refuse, you may be sure you will not 
be satisfied. Come, my child, pluck this 
thorn from your heart, tell me all."^ 

The Religious: — Mother, I dare not ; let me 
wait until another time, it will cover me 
with confusion now. 

The Superior : — How skilful the evil one 
is in deceiving us 1 Another time you will 

*To act with this holy familiarity and thus simply question 
intimate thoughts, requires a childlike confidence between 
the director and the soul directed, which is the effect of grace, 
and supposes much virtue on the part of both. 

No, a soul is not obliged to discover her intimate thoughts, 
but when she can do it, Oh ! what happiness ! what peace \ 
what a guarantee of sanctity and of reaching heaven she 
ensures herself ! 



204 Direction in practice, 

only find it more difficult ; if you wait, he 
will keep you more and more occupied 
with your repugnance, and will even in- 
crease it, whereas, if you tell me all now, 
that will be the end of it. Come, Sister, 
courage, I am looking at my crucifix. 

The Religious : — Well, I will tell you: I 
thought that if I wished, I could become 
one of the most learned religious in the 
Congregation ; that perhaps, you would give 
me the office of Sister N. — , which would 
bring me in contact with Madame N. — 
and N. — and I should feel flattered. After 
my pupils' examination, I took much pleas- 
ure in the compliments I received, they re- 
curred to me several times a day, and 1 
longed for another examination. The fact 
that in the Novitiate I passed from the last 
to the first place in Instruction, made me 
think I had more ability than the others. I 
liked to remember also, that the Father in 
speaking of me to the Mistress of Novices, 
told her that I would make a good Mistress, 
and recommended me to her care. I like 
also to find myself with certain persons, even 
inferiors who tell me agreeable things. 
There, I am sure this is quite sufficient, 
Mother,you can understand all the rest. 

The Superior : — If, instead of becoming 



Direction in practice, 205 

one of the most learned religious, you were 
to become one of the most fervent, would 
you not be satisfied ? Well, that is what I 
want you to be. From the summit of 
pride, you must descend to the holy depths 
of humility. You are young, and believe 
me, when I tell you, you must wage serious 
war against a vice which may be your ruin, 
if you do not control it. I repeat, from the 
summit of pride, endeavor with all your 
strength and by every means to descend to 
the holy depths of humility. 

The Religious : — I do not understand what 
you mean by the summit of pride and the 

holy depths of humility Do not, I beg of 

you, propose too great humility to me ; if I 
could not do all that you counselled me, I 
should have remorse for it all the rest of 
my life. I am always afraid that the thought 
of imitating you will enter my head, and I 
confess, I would not wish to do it. 

The Superior : — ** Do not propose to me, 
too great humility " ! do you understand 
what leads you to make such a request } Ah ! 
it is perverse nature, grace does not speak 
thus ; on the contrary, it would impel you 
to beg me to counsel you the surest and 
shortest way to attain great humility, the es- 
sential foundation of all other virtues ; and 



2o6 Direction in practice, 

at the cost of any sacrifice. It is of the last 
importance for you to combat your predom- 
inant fault, and to combat it tirelessly and 
unrelentingly. It is a general of an army 
with many soldiers under his command, who 
effects great ravages in souls ; you must pur- 
sue it to the last, without being in any way 
alarmed, either by the violence, or the du- 
ration of the combat. God, the witness of 
your efforts, who in these combats, antici- 
pates the soul, and sustains it b}^ His grace, 
usually gives victory if you earnestly ask it 
It is for love of Him, for His glory, that 
you combat, and fear not that He will fail 
to help you. 

The Religious : — What then must I do ? 

The Superior ; — Always the opposite of 
what pride suggests. 

The Religious : — Shall I have the strength 
to do it ? 

The Superior : — God will give it to you. 
Thus, if you have committed a fault which 
will draw some censure upon you, do noth- 
ing to prevent it ; if you are thought ill of, 
do nothing to change the opinion in which 
you are held ; if pride leads you to do things 
which may win you praise, leave them un- 
done, unless duty or obedience demands 
them ; then purify your intention ; if 



Direction in practice, 207 

you want to be counted as something by 
your superiors, your companions, or even 
by persons outside, seek '^ to be unknown 
and esteemed as nothing/'* choose the last 
place everywhere and in everything, bat un- 
affectedly. 

The Religious : — Oh ! that is so difficult ! 
to avoid no blame, to permit one's self to be 
unfavorably judged when one word could de- 
stroy this false opinion, and reinstate you in 
the minds of others, no, I do not think I 
have the strength to do it always. But here 
is what I already thought of : I know my 
pride is great, and I am going to ask God 
to keep me always in humiliations, to per- 
mit me to be proud of nothing. I will say 
to Him : *^ My God, feed me with the bread 
of humiliations, steep me in the water of 
tears, wean me from my love for the esteem 
and favor of creatures : make me an object 
of contempt ; may all that I do to exalt my- 
selfj turn to my confusion, so that I may be 
ever in abasement by the continual remem- 
brance of my sins, by a profound sense of 
my misery." And as I am so fond of enjoy- 
ment, I would add : *' Do not permit me to 
find satisfaction in aught here below, save in 
loving and pleasing Thee ! Make eating, 

*Imitation, B. i, Chap. 2. 



2o8 Direction in practice, 

drinking and other natural satisfactions a 
cross to me ! I ask of Thee but one thi^g 
O my God : not to permit me to be bst 
eternally !" 

This, dear Mother, is all I can do. I have 
already begun to address this prayer to God ; 
sometimes I tremble as I utter it, at the 
thought of great humiliations coming upon 
me, but I reflect at once that all these suffer- 
ings will be of little moment, if I have the 
happiness to be saved. Oh ! pray, pray for 
me, I beseech you. 

The Superior : — I will, and I hope that 
you will become very humble. But at least 
do not let a day pass without asking God to 
give you this virtue of humility, which ren- 
ders a soul so happy, which drew the Son of 
God to this earth. One day, the price of 
abjection will be clear to us. Believe me, my 
child, it is good to rest in contempt, to be 
counted as naught. Since you are very 
earnest in your desire to become humble, 1 
am going to call your attention to certain 
things you did, in which there was more or 
less pride. When Sister N. told you, in my 
presence, that your pupils were too slow, 
that they lost time through want of being 
stimulated by the Mistress, you answered 
impatiently : ^' Ah ! what a trial those chil- 



Direction in practice, 209 

dren are to a person of any spirit !" You 
should have contented yourself with quietly 
answering : "I will see that they do better 
for the future ; if I were more devoted my- 
self, doubtless they would make more prog- 
ress." When Mdlle N. was unable to 
answer what I asked her, you said very quick- 
ly : '* I have told her that five or six times." 
If you had kept silence, you would have 
made a good act of humility. Yesterday 
morning, when I visited your class to assure 
myself that everything was in order, you 
hurried up stairs to see for yourself wheth- 
er everything was in its place ; you should 
have let me pass first. When I said to 
you the other day, that the soup you 
made for the poor was not well made, you 
answered : ^ * At home we do not make these 
soups." You should have said : *' That is 
true, Mother, will you be kind enough to 
leach me how to make it .?" See, my dear Sis- 
ter, how we can profit by little occasions, to 
overcome our pride and practice humility, 
do not let such opportunities escape you as 
you have done heretofore. 

The Religious : — Mother, you said a while 
ago that the vice of pride would be my ruin 
\^ I did not control it. Will you explain to 
me, please, how it might cause the loss of a 
soul? 



2IO Direction in practice. 

The Superior : — It may cause its loss in 
several ways. A proud person is generally 
rash ; he fearlessly exposes himself to dan- 
ger ; and if he perishes therein as the Holy 
Spirit threatens, we may say that pride is 
the cause of his being lost. A proud person 
is nearly always too tenacious of his own 
ideas, his own judgment ; he believes he 
has light superior to that of others ; and if 
he falls into error, there is no means, or at 
least it is very difficult to bring him back to 
truth. All the arch-heretics mentioned in 
ecclesiastical history were such, only because 
they were proud, obstinate minds. Any one 
may be deceived, but if he is humble he 
will be easily persuaded of his error, and 
above all will submit his judgment to the 
Holy Church, which is infallible ; but if he 
is proud, he will obstinately persist in his 
opinion and will ''obey not the truth.'' — 
Rom. ii. 8. We probably will not become 
arch-heretics here ; but there are many er- 
rors which enter the mind of a religious, 
most dangerous errors which only humility 
can cure. Thus a religious may take it in- 
to her head that she would do more good if 
she were to go back to the world ; her su- 
perior, her confessor, who sees clearly that 
she runs the risk of being lost by renounc- 



Direction in practice, 211 

ing her profession, tells her that she is about 
to commit an act of folly, of which she will 
repent too late ; they leave nothing undone 
to persuade her to remain ; if she is hum- 
ble she will be convinced of her error ; if 
she is not, she falls into the snare the devil 
lays for her, and her loss is imminent, and 
it is pride which leads her to perdition. An- 
other, still young, and with some talents, 
seeks very much to display them ; she yearns 
for praise. She is counselled to be as retir- 
ing as her functions will permit ; to fly 
praise, particularly from persons of the other 
sex, of whatever age or condition. But 
no, she must let every one see her trifling 
success in her class ; if she is not cloistered 
she tries to obtain a visit from the pastor, 
the curate, or some other person competent 
to judge of her supposed merit, and the 
progress of her pupils. If she had been 
humble and docile she would not have fall- 
en into this disorder. Here is another who 
does notobserve the Rule well; her confessor, 
her superior warn her ; show her that she 
is falling into a dangerous way ; they sug- 
gest some penances proper to correct her ; 
she omits these penances, or only performs 
them to be rid of them ; finding that her con- 
fessor and superior restrain her too much, 



212 Direction in practice. 

she leaves her confessor to find one less 
severe ; she neglects to make her dispositions 
known to her superior, or does so very su- 
perficially. This religious who disregards 
the wise warnings of her confessor and of her 
superior will end by becoming blinded, and 
by falling into deplorable laxness ; and will 
owe her ruin to pride. 

God detests pride in all His creatures, 
Sister, but particularly in His Spouses, He 
cannot endure it. Thus the shameful sins 
into which He sometimes permits souls 
consecrated to Him to fall, are a punish- 
ment of that vice which He pursues wher- 
ever it may be found, and still more in 
the souls whom He has honored so much 
as to make His own. Leaving the holy 
state of religion is frequently a punishment 
of pride and in my opinion the greatest 

The Religious : — Oh ! beg God, Mother, 
never to send me such chastisements ; I 
would a thousand times rather die than leave 
the Institute or fail into any grave sin. 
What you have told me has fi^lled me with 
fear. 



Direction in practice. 213 

Second Direction. 
Counsels on Piety, 

The Religious : — I am glad that I am Hear- 
ing the time for the annual retreat ; I am 
going to ask permission to make a general 
confession of my whole life. 

T/ie Superior : — To rejoice at the approach 
of the retreat, and to prepare ourselves for it 
puts us in an excellent disposition for profit- 
ing by this great grace ; but a desire to make 
a general confession may be a ruse of the 
evil one to make you lose time, and, perhaps, 
fill you with trouble ; you must speak with 
the confessor about it. 

The Religious : — But, Mother, this confes- 
sion seems to me necessary ; not to repair 
my past confessions, but to rouse myself 
from this state of tepidity into which I have 
fallen. 

The Superior : — Who told you that you 
were in a state of tepidity ? 

The Religious : — No one, but I feel it. 

The Superior: — It is for your confessor 
and your superior to decide the state you 
are in. No, my child, I for my part do not 
see that you are in that state of tepidity 
which would lead the good Master to reject 
you from His mouth. 



214 Direction in practice. 

The Religious :—^hy is it, then, that I do 
not love God as I formerly did ? I can 
hardly speak to Him any more in med- 
itation ; I find my prayers irksome and 
filled with distractions ; I am ill at ease in- 
teriorly ; I would rouse myself from this 
state. 

The Superior : — This is simply because 
the good God wills for our advantage that 
we should not always continue in the same 
interior state. Love for God is not proved 
by feelings, but by works. It is not neces- 
sary to feel a relish for prayer and be free 
from distractions, it is sufficient to make it 
as well as one can ; we have even more merit 
in praying without any relish for prayer and in 
the midst of unwiHing distractions which we 
do our best to banish than with facility and 
sweet fervor. It does not satisfy our self-love, 
however, and hence our repugnance ; but it 
benefits, purifies and strengthens our soul. 

The Religious : — I would be consoled if I 
were sure that I did all I could to pray well ; 
but how can I be sure } 

The Superior : — One should ask her con- 
fessor or her superior, tell him what she 
does, and rest tranquilly upon his word. 
There is great merit before God in keep- 
ing one's self at peace through a spirit of faith, 



Direction in practice, 2 1 5 

on the word of those charged to direct us. 

The Religious : — Let me tell you, my dear 
Mother, the present state of my soul? 
and then I will follow your counsels, for my 
whole desire is not to displease God. 

77ie Superior : — Certainly ; but tell me, do 
you voluntarily dwell upon these distractions 
which assail you ?~-Do you neglect or cease 
to pray because you have no relish for prayer ? 

T/ie Religious :—l think not. But I find 
it very trying during meditation and my visit 
to the Blessed Sacrament to be like a statue 
before God, or to have my mind filled with 
anything but the thoughts which should 
occupy me at that time. 

T/ie Superior : — Is it bad to be a statue, 
when it pleases God ? Is it not a great 
honor ? In the palaces of Kings there are 
statues which do nothing of themselves; but 
their presence is useful, they honor the mas- 
ter of the house. Why would you not 
honor God in this way if He wills it.? 

The Religious : — But when one's mind isi 
filled with useless, even extravagant thoughts, 
how can you honor God ? 

The Superior : — By being very patient with 
one's self, saying to God in the words of a 
Saint : ** Behold the fruit of my garden ; thai 
is all that is mine." 



-2 1 6 Diredmi in practice. 

It is well to repeat a few lines of a pious can- 
ticle, or some verses of a psalm, forcing one's 
self to will what the words express. If we are 
incapable of doing it, then accept this state of 
impotence. 

The Religious : — Would it not be better to 
read a pious book or say the Rosary ? 

The Superior : — In extremity one may do 
it, but we should only rarely have recourse to 
this means, for meditation is not vocal prayer 
or spiritual reading. One should do it, for 
example^ w^hen harassed by evil thoughts, for 
then the mind will be more en.sily divert- 
ed. 

Third Direction, 

Laxness, 

The Superior :-^Yoxvc\^x\y it was you, my 
child, who feared, and I reassured you. But 
to-day you are without fear, and for that 
reason I fear, yes, I fear very much for you. 

The Religious: — Mother, what do you 
mean ? Your words and manner frighten 
me. 

The Superior: — You do not understand 
me.? . . . There was a time when you always 
feared to be estranged from God ; you pun- 
ished yourself, or asked punishment, for the 



Direction in practice. 217 

slightest faults ; you came frequently to con- 
sult me; you did nothing without my assent; 
the fear of becoming tepid maintained you 
in fervor. But how is it with you now? 
Where have fled all those timid apprehen- 
sions which I liked to see, for they proved 
that you were not far from the good God. 

The Religious : — True, Mother, I do not 
fear as I formerly did, yet I do not believe I 
do anything wrong, 

The Superior : — I do not say that you do 
anything wrong, but there are things which, 
I am sorry to say, you have ceased to fear. 
What is that book which you have in your 
hand ? 

The Religious : — It is an abridged history 
of France ; I think it is approved, for Sister 
N — reads it. 

The Superior : — A year ago you would not 
have read a book merely on the supposition 
that it was approved, you would have come 
and asked my approbation. You will tell 
me : this is not a bad book, others, read it. 
That is not a sufficient reason for you to read 
it without my knowledge.* 

Fear, Sister, fear, I repeat, to read profane 
books even when approved ; and as to pious 

♦Constitutions of the Sisters cf the Holy Family, Explana- 
tions, No. 203, No. 273. 



2 1 8 Direction in practice. 

books bearing even episcopal sanction, ask 
before reading them ; for all may not equally 
suit you. 

Come nearer, Sister, take off your belt, do 
you not see that your dress is too tight ? 
You like a small waist ; is that fitting for a 
religious? The folds of your dress are 
arranged with too much care ; your veil is 
too low over your eyes, it was not modesty 
which prompted you to lower it in that 
way. Again, I tell you to fear, fear the 
approach of vanity ; I have just surprised 
you in one of its snares : it will lead you 
still further, you will, become, perhaps, its 
slave and victim. 

Only a short time since, it was your de- 
light to keep God's house, the sanctuary, in 
the most perfect order and neatness ; you 
never could give too much time to it ; and 
now, you hastily sweep the sanctuary, and 
use all possible haste in putting it in order 
that you may go to study, or other things 
which flatter your self-love. Fear, Sister, 
if you persist in thus withdrawing from 
God, God will end by abandoning you 
and, perhaps, irrevocably. 

Formerly, you spoke but of God at your 
recreation, everything else wearied you. Is it 
the same to day ? Now, you follow Nature 



Direction in practice, 2 1 9 

which leads you to go with those Sisters 
whose humor suits your disposition, you 
seek to be well with everybody, you accept 
little flatteries ; here are imperfections which 
will lead you very far if you do not beware 
of them. Fear, Sister, fear to gradually re- 
place the love of God which formerly reign- 
ed in your heart by a love of creatures. 
You will be unfortunate, believe me, if you 
withdraw from Him who formerly has been, 
and who alone can be, your happiness. 
What has become of that delicacy of con- 
science which made you fear the least evil, the 
slightest disobedience, the most trifling eva- 
sion ? A slight criticism, or blame, a slight 
irreverence in choir, would be a subject of 
tears to you ; you frequently came to me, not 
daring to receive Holy Communion for rea- 
sons which appeared to me sufficiently 
slight ; and now you no longer come, yet 
I find you less faithful than you were then, 
much more reprehensible in certain things. 
Fear then, Sister, fear tepidity. Ah ! it is 
a dangerous evil to souls ! Tepidity has 
led many to perdition ; disregarding neg- 
ligence and slight faults, its forerunners, 
they gradually fell into mortal sin ; and 
mortal sin at length precipitated them into 
hell. 



2 20 Direction in practice. 

The Religious.— Moih&T, I feel myself 
guilty, very guilty ; I have been deluded, I 
see It now ; pray for me that I may return 
to what I formerly was, and that I may not 
have the misfortune to be lost in the midet 
of the abundant succor with which this 
holy house abounds. 

The Superior.-— I will, most heartily, you 
may be sure. Return to me in two or three 
days ; but pray, pray yourself a great deal, 
and do not be discouraged. 



CONCLUSION. 

As a summary and conclusion of our 
labor, we have gathered from the works of 
St. Liguori the doctrine of this Doctor of 
the Church on direction. 

We know that St. Liguori, who to knowl- 
edge and sanctity adds great experience of 
souls, does not limit himself in his writings 
to speculations, but gives always numerous 
practical details which powerfully aid one 
in the conduct of life. 

It was to present these details in full 
that we preferred not incorporating them 
in our work; it seemed to us that gathered 
together here they might be more profitable 
to religious, to whom they are principally 
addressed. 

We are happy to be guided in practice 
by a doctrine in which the Church has 
found nothing reprehensible and which she. 
proposes to all the faithful as a safe rule ; 
and to accept the decisions which the holy 
Bishop gave only after he had implored on 
his knees the light of the Holy Spirit and 
the assistance of Mary. 



2 2 2 Conclusion, 



Geueral Necessity of Direction. 

*' There are religious who pretend to 
live without a director ; they think that, 
having rules and a superior, they need no 
other guide; but they are mistaken ; for be- 
sides the rules and the superior, it is fitting 
that religious have also a director, that they 
may be counselled and guided in interior 
and even exterior exercises. 'It is true,' says 
St. Gregory, 'that some Saints have had God 
Himself as their immediate guide, but one 
should not wish,' he adds, ^ to follow these 
examples, for fear that by disdaining the 
guidance of a man, we lead ourselves into 
error.' 

** If a religious finds no director who can 
guide her in the way of perfection, God 
will supply her need ; * but to refuse one 
of His ministers when we can obtain him 

*Permit us to add here a few words of consolation for persons 
in the country, reduced to one priest, absorbed by the numer- 
ous exterior duties of the ministry, and who, unable to choose 
a director, do not find what seems necessary for the needs of 
their soul. 

Jesus Christ is the first, or rather, the only director of souls. 
Address yourself to Him in all confidence ; serve Him faith- 
fully ; come to your confession every week with a great spirit 
of faith, a sincere regret for your faults, a serious will to lead 
a regular and devout life, and be at peace ; Jesus Christ with- 



Conclusion. 225 

is temerity which God punishes by permit- 
ting us to fall into many errors. God could 
direct us Himself, but to render us hum- 
ble, He wishes that we submit to His minis- 
ters and that we depend upon their author- 
ity." 

Particular necessity of direction for scrupu- 
lous souls. 

*'The masters of the spiritual life indicate 
several remedies against scruples ; but all 
theologians, as well as ascetic authors, agree 
in concluding that the principal or rather the 
sole efficacious remedy is for the penitent to 

out your knowledge will take upon Himself to teach you the 
secrets of the interior life ; it was thus He directed Mary of 
Egypt in the desert, and in infidel countries He directs Chris- 
tians who scarcely see the missionaries once a year. 

But neglect no succor within your reach ; read each day 
some soM, pious book ! " The Holy Gospels," " Introduction 
to a Devout Life," " The Imitation of Christ," "Short Lives of 
the Saints," "Spiritual Combat," " Visits to the Blessed Sacra- 
ment," by St. Liguori, and a small book of daily meditations 
may m a great measure suffice you. 

If you are a female and can communicate in the parish with 
some truly pious person, that is attached to her duty, chari- 
table in her words, submissive to the will of God, see her 
sometimes, though she may be unlearned m human things. 

If an occasion offers of consulting a strange priest who comes 
for a mission, or a retreat, do it simply, without ostentation, 
but do not be deterred by human respect. 

Do not complain of what is lacking you, and wait. God 
never fails any one, and He who feeds the birds of the air. 
Will know how to afford your soul the food it requires. 



2 24 Conclusion. 

wholly mistrust his own judgment and, plac- 
ing himself in the hands of his spiritual fa- 
ther, blindly obey him. St. Philip Neri says 
that there is nothing more dangerous in 
affairs of conscience than to wish to guide 
one's self after one's own views. A scrupulous 
person who does not obey his director is 
lost. Not to yield to the decision of a direc- 
tor shows pride and a want of faith, says St. 
John of the Cross. In fact, Jesus Christ has 
declared that he who obeys His priests, obeys 
Him, and that he who despises them de- 
spises Him. Qui vos audit, me audit ; et qui 
vos spernit me spcriiit. — Luke x. 1 6. 

"Hence St. John of the Cross speaks thus 
in the name of the Lord : * When you are 
wanting in docility to your confessors you 
disobey Me, for I have said : *^ He who de- 
spiseth you despiseth Me." He, on the con- 
trary, who obeys his spiritual father cannot 
be deceived.' According to St. Bernard, 
what man commands, when he holds the 
place of .God, provided it be nothing certain- 
ly displeasing to God, should be taken as 
a direct command from God Himself: 
Quidquid vice Dei prcecipit homo^ quod ncn sit 
tamen certum displicere Deo, haud secus omnino 
accipiendum est, quam si prcecipiat Deus. — De 
Praec. and Disp. 



Conclusion, 225 

*'Thus the blessed Henry Suso assures us 
that God will not hold us accountable for 
what we shall have done through obedience. 
And St. Philip Neri taught the same to his 
penitents : ^ Those who desire to make prog-> 
ress in the ways of God should submit to 
an enlightened confessor and obey him as 
God Himself ; while we act thus we are sure 
of not being held accountable to God for 
what we do/ He added that we must have 
faith in our confessor^ for God would not let 
him be deceived. For my part, I say that if 
a person becomes blind, his only resource is 
to take a faithfal guide to lead him in the 
way he should go ; in like manner, a soul 
who finds herself in the darkness and con- 
fusion of scruples should allow herself to be 
directed by the guide God has given her 
and obey him blindly. — I say, by the guide 
God has given her, for, generally speaking, 
it is not well for a scrupulous person to 
speak of her doubts to other spiritual fathers 
than her own director, even if they should 
be holy and learned ; another, not know- 
ing the state of her conscience, may ask 
her a question, or say a word to her not in 
accordance with the views of her own direc- 
tor ; and for this word, her conscience is 
again completely disturbed, and, losing the 



2 26 Conclusion, 

confidence she hitherto reposed in her own 
guide, she will remain forever, or at least for 
a long time, in disquiet and trouble. 

"■ Then obey your director, my dear Sister, 
and be sure that in obeying him you can- 
not go astray. 

" Thus did the Saints, who were likewise 
frequently tormented by scruples and fears of 
offending God, and by this means they en- 
sured their safety. St. Catherine of Bologna 
was afflicted with scruples, but she obeyed 
her confessor in all things; if sometimes she 
feared to approach the Holy Table, a sign 
from her spiritual father sufficed to make 
her conquer her fears and go forward imme- 
diately and receive Holy Communion, there- 
fore Jesus Christ appeared to her one day, 
and to encourage her still more to obey, told 
her to rejoice, for her obedience was very 
pleasing to Him. This good Master ap- 
peared also one day to Blessed Stephanie 
Soncino, a Dominicaness, and caused her to 
hear these words: ' Since thou hast remitted 
thy will into the hands of thy confessor, who 
is My representative, whatever grace thou wilt 
ask Me shall be granted thee/ She replied; 
' Lord, I desire only Thee.' 

^' St. Augustine gave the same counsel to 
his friend, St. Paulin,who exposed his doubts 



Conclusion, 



227 



to him, ' Go ' he said, ' and consult some 
good spiritual physician upon your doubts 
and let me know what the Lord will have 
said to you by his mouth.' — We see that the 
holy Doctor held it as certain that if St. Pau- 
lin asked the advice of a spiritual father, 
God would speak to him and make known 
His will through His minister. St. Antony 
relates that a Dominican being very much 
tormented by scruples, another religious, who 
was dead, appeared to him and said : Consule 
discretos et acquiesce illis : Take counsel of the 
wise and hold to what they tell you. — The 
same Saint also relates that a disciple of St 
Bernard was reduced to such a state by scru- 
ples that he was unable to say mass; but in 
his perplexity he happily went to consult his 
master, St. Bernard, who, without reasoning 
with him, contented himself with saying : 
'Go, say mass, and let it be on my conscience.' 
The religious obeyed, and was forever deliv- 
ered from all his scruples. 

'* We must not say: If I had St. Bernard 
for confessor I would obey as blindly, but my 
confessor is not St. Bernard. 

^'Doubtless, he is not St. Bernard; but he 
is more than St. Bernard, since He holds 
God's place to you. Hear the learned Ger- 
son's reply to this : ' You who speak thus are 



228 Conclusion, 

in error; for you have not placed your confi- 
dence in a man because he is enhghtened 
or holy, but because He is charged by God 
with the guidance of your soul, obey him 
then as God, and you cannot fail to do 
well/ — St. Ignatius Loyola at the beginning 
of his conversion was so beset by darkness 
and scruples that he could find no rest; but 
as he had real faith in God's words: Quivos 
audita me audita he said with great confidence: 
' Lord, show me the path I must follow : 
though Thou sendest me a dog for a guide, 
I promise to faithfully follow him/ He 
was in fact faithfully obedient to his di- 
rectors; which availed him not only deliver- 
ance from his scruples, but also made him 
an excellent master for others. St. Teresa 
then had reason to say : * Let the soul take 
her confessor as judge and give herself com- 
pletely to his guidance, firmly resolved not 
to plead or think of her cause, confidently 
trusting in the words of our Lord : He that 
hearethyou, heareth Me. This submission is 
very pleasing to God and powerfully helps 
us to conquer in the thousand interior com- 
bats we sometimes have to sustain, even 
though the judgment given upon our cause 
appear to us unreasonable, or we experience 
great repugnance in executing it. In a word, 
we accomplish the will of God !' 



Conclusion, 229 

*'If, then, Sister, when Jesus Christ comes 
to judge you, He ask you an account of 
what you will have done in obedience to 
your director, prepare yourself to make 
this reply : 'Lord 1 I did that to obey Thy 
minister, as Thou didst command me to 
do/ — If you can then answer thus, you have 
no reason to fear that He may condemn 
you. Fr. James Alvarez assures us that, even 
though the confessor be mistaken, the pen- 
itent in obeying him cannot err, and walks in 
safety. What ! would you be obliged in or- 
der to secure tranquillity of conscience to ex« 
amine whether your confessor is learned or 
not ? It is sufficient that he is lawfully ap- 
proved by his mission, which you may readi- 
ly suppose ; from that moment he holds God's 
place to you, and you cannot be repre- 
hensible in doing what he commands. 

''But, perhaps, you will argue : I am not 
scrupulous ; my fears are not vain, but well 
founded. I reply, no insane person believes 
himself insane, for madness consists precisely 
in not recognizing that we have lost reason. 
Nevertheless I tell you you are scrupulous, 
you whom your director thinks so, because 
you will not recognize the vanity of your 
scruples ; if you understood that your ap- 
prehensions were vain you would pay no at- 



230 Conclusion. 

tention to them, and you would not be 
scrupulous. Then quiet yourself and obey 
your director, who knows your conscience. 
*'^ ' That does not depend upon the direc- 
tor/ I hear you reply, ' but upon me, who 
cannot explain myself and make known 

to him the miserable state of my soul/ Ah ! 

there you are, inventing a thousand scruples 
on this head and making no scruple whatever 
of treating your spiritual father as an igno- 
rant person, or one capable of sacrilege ! 

'' For when you confessed your doubts, and 
upon grave matters, according to you the 
confessor, if he did not understand you, was 
obliged to put to you such questions as would 
enable him to judge of your doubts ; so that 
if without a just reason or without under- 
standing you, as you think, he has ordered 
you to despise them as vain scruples, 
he must have done it through ignorance or 
negligence. Thus by distrusting his judg- 
ment through fear that he has not under- 
stood you, you represent him, as I said, 
either as ignorant or capable of sacrilege ; 
and you make no scruple of this rashness ! 
Every one who permits herself to judge the 
decisions of confessors should be answered 
as the learned Bishop of Gubbio, Mgr. 
Sperelli, one day answered a scrupulous re- 



Conclusion. 



231 



ligious who denounced her confessor to him 
as a heretic because he had told her sins 
were not sins. 'Tell me, my daughter,' he 
said, ^in what university did you study the- 
ology that you know more than your con- 
fessor ? Go busy yourself with spinning and 
cease to occupy yourself with these follies. ' 
'^ I would not say the same to you, but 
I urge you to abide tranquilly by all that 
your spiritual father tells you. It suffices 
that you have once exposed your doubts 
to him. Now and always, when he says, 
' That is sufficient, I do not wish to hear any 
more, do as I tell you, go to communion,' 
etc., you should obey without another 
thought, and believe that he has understood 
you sufficiently : do not question the wis- 
dom of his decision, but obey him blindly, 
without arguing, without seeking to know 
his motives, abandoning yourself complete- 
ly to his guidance ; for if you seek to know 
the reason of what he tells you, you will 
only awaken new scruples, and you will 
fall back into your perplexities. Obey blind- 
ly, that is, without pretending to discover 
the why or wherefore ; and never set your- 
self to reflect upon what is prescribed you 
by your confessor. Scruples are like pitch, 
the more you handle them the more they 



232 Conclusion, 

stick to you ; the more you reflect upon 
them, the more involved you become. Be 
satisfied to walk in obscurity, bearing in mind 
the beautiful maxims of St. Francis de Sales, 
one of which is : ' We must be content to 
believe that we are doing well, on the word 
of a director and spiritual father, without 
seeking to know and feel it/ Another 
says : ' The best way is to walk blindly 
under the guidance of divine Providence 
through darkness, desolation, crosses and 
other perplexities of this life.' Another, final- 
ly, and this one should completely reas- 
sure you, says : ' A truly obedient soul is 
never lost/ Keep ever before your eyes 
this certain rule, that in obeying your con- 
fessor you obey God ; force yourself to obey 
without heeding yonr fears ; and be per- 
suaded that if you do not obey, it is impossi- 
ble for you to do well ; while, if you obey, 
you are always safe. Do not say then : 
and if I am lost in obeying, who will release 
me from hell ? — For that is not possible. 
No ; it is not possible that obedience, which 
is the sure road to Paradise, should become 
for you the road to hell." 



Conclusion. 233 

III. 
Submission due to the Director. 

** Obey your director and do not deviate 
from what he prescribes or permits you, how- 
ever good anything contrary to his advice 
may seem. We read, in the lives of the early 
Fathers, that a young religious already far 
advanced in virtue willed, contrary to the 
advice of his spiritual father, to leave the 
monastery and retire into solitude. But 
what happened to him ? From the desert, 
whither he had retired, he chose at one 
time to pay his parents a visit ; while at 
home he forgot his solitude and abandoned 
himself to a lax life. 

*^You will tell me, perhaps, that following 
the guidance ofyour confessor you were very 
badly directed, as several priests have thus 
assured you. — I answer that you could hard- 
ly go astray in following the path of obedi- 
ence. But if this did happen, do you know 
the reason ? It was probably because you 
obeyed in certain things and not in others. 
God has not promised His concurrence to 
such defective obedience. Place yourself 
completely in the hands of your guide and 
obey him in all things ; then God will never 
permit you to fall into error. If your con- 



234 Conclusion, 

fessor have not the necessary knowledge, 
God will take care to supply the deficiency, 
for it is not possible for a soul desiring to 
sanctify herself, and trusting in God, to be 
deceived when she faithfully obeys God's 
minister. 

''Hence I conclude that a religious who 
has no particular director, cannot err in 
allowing herself to be directed by the ordi- 
nary confessor, though he be changed from 
time to time. A great servant of God, Sister 
Paula Centurion, used to say ; ^ To me all 
confessors seem the same *, they all apply 
the Blood of Jesus Christ to heal the wounds 
of my soul/ When a new confessor comes, 
it suffices to give him a general knowledge of 
our conscience and thus place ourselves un- 
der his direction. To one who truly desires 
to sanctify herself, and seeks but God, every 
confessor assigned her by authority is good. 
We must have a good will, and a firm res- 
olution to refuse self-love every satisfaction, 
to seek in all things only what is pleasing to 
God. For this reason the venerable Sister 
Ursula Benincasa used to say to her relig- 
ious : ' Sisters, be persuaded that no director 
can lead you to sanctity, if you are not re- 
solved to mortify your own will and your 
passions.' " 



APPENDIX. 
Two Letters of Marie Lataste * 

First Letter, 

Necessity of a Director, 

You asked me, whether the voice which 
spoke with me ever said anything to me of 
my director in a manner to found an in- 
struction thereon ? I have already answered 
you, yes. 

The Saviour Jesus, for it seems to me to 
be really He who speaks to me, gave me 
several counsels as to how I should bear 
myselfin my relations with my director. I 



* •' Independently of the marvellous communications of our 
Saviour with the humble Mane Lataste, we find in her 
writings such a breath of inspiration, such peace, such sweet 
simplicity, and deep unction, should they produce such an 
impression upon the soul, that in my opinion, the simple read- 
ing of the letters must lead us to discover God and His spirit 
in them. 

" Several letters of Marie Lataste have been found singu- 
larly remarkable. We quote among others the first and 
second relative to the necessity of having a director and the 
manner of conducting one' s self toward him." 
Etudes rUigieuses par les PP. de la Compagnie de Jesus, 



,2^6 Appendix, 

have referred to it in my note-books when I 
found occasion. But besides this He spoke 
to me in a most special manner of my di- 
rector from the beginning when I had the 
happiness to hear His voice. He spoke to 
me three times in succession on this subject, 
and in the following order ; First, on the 
necessity of a director ; second, on how we 
bear ourselves in our relation with a di- 
rector ; third, on the qualities of a director. 
I will give the first discourse, the neces- 
sity of a director : 

" My daughter/' said the Saviour Jesus 
to me one day after mass, ''I have often rec- 
ommended you to speak to him who di- 
rects you of what you experience in your 
relations with Me. You have never asked 
yourself the motive of this recommendation, 
nor, why you have not only a confessor but 
a director in him to whom you make known 
the secrets of your soul. I wish to make 
you understand and to show you how it is 
necessary it should be thus. 

•* Since the revolt of the first man all 
men are plunged in darkness ; they have 
eyes, and yet they are incapable of guiding 
themselves in the way which leads to God. 
Life, in fact, is surrounded with dangers, per- 
ils, precipices; the enemies of man spring 



Appendix. 237 

up everywhere in his path, and for this reason 
man needs other light than that of his eyes, 
or his intelligence, to be able to walk securely, 
and it is thus by the aid of directors and 
counsellors that all men must pursue their 
march to eternity. 

'' Such is the will of God. Man sinned 
through pride and willed to walk by his own 
light. He is punished in that in which he 
sinned, and until the end of ages man shall 
walk in the way of salvation by the light and 
guidance of another. 

'* You know how it has been since the 
beginning of the world. The heads of fam- 
ilies were the counsellors of all the family, 
and as they could not find in their children 
the counsellors they needed themselves, God 
caused them to hear His voice and lent them 
His light and His counsel. Such were the 
heads of families, the patriarchs, the legisla- 
tors, the prophets, and the pontiffs of the 
people of God. The counsels of these in- 
spired men of God were the light and guid- 
ance of the people. 

** When the time had come, I came My- 
self to be the universal Counsellor of the 
human race. I came to restore it light, 
truth, and life. I shed this light, this truth, 
and this life on my Apostles; and through 



238 Appendix, 

the priesthood of those whom I have chosen 
as my ministers it passes to generations, en- 
lightening intelligences, nourishing them 
with the only true food, vivifying them and 
leading them each day by a stronger, more 
generous life to the centre of that life which 
will never end. 
" Therefore, man, My daughter, must make 
use of a counsellor or director because God 
has so regulated the commerce of the su- 
pernatural life. 

"Behold man, My daughter, in the com- 
merce of the natural life ; he consults, he 
asks advice, counsel, light ; be he the most 
learned, the most enlightened, the wisest 
of men, he distrusts himself, he has re- 
course to another. 

** The supernatural life, with still stronger 
reason, requires that we act in like manner, 
if we would walk uprightly in this life, if 
we would not wander, or pursue a false 
path. 

" You understand, in fact, that the super- 
natural life, my daughter, has an importance 
very different from the natural life, which is 
for time, while the other is for eternity. 
Therefore, if you examine the supernatural 
world, you will see all the saints, the great- 
est doctors, the doctor of nations himself, 



Appendix. 239 

struck on the road to Damascus seeking of 
another counsel and light to walk in the 
way of God. 

*'I alone can dispense with counsel and 
light, for I am the counsel and the light of 
all ; but all men are subjected to walk by 
the light of another and not by their own 
light and counsel. 

'' Men, the most learned, and the wisest 
in directing others, are like blind men who 
find themselves alone with no one to guide 
their steps, when they wish to walk according 
to their own wisdom. They grope blindly 
for awhile, they proceed slowly for a few 
days, and they fall into abysses. For man is 
blind to what concerns himself ; he easily 
takes what is vicious and defective for good- 
ness or virtue, and the error is to him the cause 
of a fall, or death. He falls because he has 
no one to guide him, he dies because he 
has not the assistance of a friend to with- 
draw him from a precipice. Therefore, if 
God, My daughter, has willed that all men 
should have a director, and if a director is 
a thing so necessary, that even without the 
express will of God all men should have one, 
you must see how important it is for you to 
be directed in the path of salvation by an- 
other guide than yourself. 



240 Appendix. 

** Yes, My daughter, you need a director 
that he may teach you that of which you 
are ignorant : the science of salvation, the 
science of the supernatural life. Though 
through kindness to you I have deigned to 
instruct you Myself, yet it is necessary that 
you submit my instructions to your director, 
that you may learn through him and know 
positively that you may receive My teachings 
and conform yourself thereto, for they con- 
tain nothing contrary to truth on the subject 
of your faith, your hope, your charily, and 
all the actions of your life. You fear to 
be the vicdm of illusions ; who will reassure 
you on this point if not your director ? 

' ' You need a director that he may exer- 
cise you in the practice of all virtues, that 
he may indicate to you the means of avoid- 
ing sin, and that he may regulate your dis- 
cretion in the fulfilment of your duties to- 
ward God. 

*' You need a director to increase your 
merits for eternity, and your crown in heaven, 
by your obedience and your submission 
to all that he prescribes. Obedience to his 
voice will give you greater resemblance to 
Me, who always did the will of My Father 
upon earth. 

^' You need a director, because life is full 



Appendix, 24 1 

of miseries, tribulations and trials ; there- 
fore you need a word of consolation in trial, 
succor to strengthen you in combat. And 
all this you find in your director. 

^' Finally, My daughter, you need a direc- 
tor because, like all the children of Adam, 
you are the victim of sin, inclined to evil* 
subject to offend God, 

'' Follow, then, the light, the counsels, 
the advice you receive from your director. 
Grieve not if I have taken from you him 
who first showed you the way. I tell you 
truly you will bless My Providence one day 
for having placed you m the hands of him 
whom I have sent to you." 

Second Letter. 

Haw to bear one s self toward a Director, 

Here is the second discourse of the Sa- 
viour Jesus. He taught me, in this discourse, 
how I should bear myself toward my direc- 
tor. 

'*My daughter," He said, ''I wish to 
teach you how you should act toward your 
director. There are two ways of acting for 
you, one interior, the other exterior ; the 
first comprises the intimate sentiments of 



242 Appendix. 

your soul, the second, your acts, and your 
exterior relations. 

''What should be your exterior conduct 
in relation to your director ? 

*' By what should it be regulated ? 

^^ My daughter, by sentiments of faith and 
religion, 

" Your director is clothed with My priest- 
hood, that is, with the greatest dignity that 
can possibly be communicated toman. He 
is a priest, he holds My place, he acts as I My- 
self would act, he has ail My powers. You 
should consequently regard Me as living in 
his person ; you should honor Me in honor- 
ing him, respect Me in respecting him ; 
hear My voice in listening to him ; submit 
to Me in submitting to him; you should feel 
for him the deepest and most sincere grati- 
tude; you should love him as the spiritual 
father of your soul, as your guide, your 
counsellor, and your Saviour ; for he fills for 
you the part of Saviour which I have assign- 
ed to him, as I have to all My priests. 

" These sentiments should also be the rule 
of your exterior conduct. 

" If you act with faith and piety, you 
will make yourself known to your director 
with simplicity, telling him all that you 
know, hiding nothing from him, communi- 



Appendix. 243 

eating your secrets and the most intimate 
trials, you will speak to him as to God, 
whom you would not deceive, because He 
knows all things, even the most hidden 
thoughts ; you will speak to him as to God, 
that is, as to your father, with confidence and 
freedom, hoping everything from him, and 
abandoning yourself to him with the convic- 
tion that he will act in the best way pos- 
sible to enlighten you, to succor you, 
to help you in the combats or trials of 
life. 

'' You will submit your will to his as to 
Mine. You will not dispute with him ; you 
will defer to his wisdom. You wdll be in his 
hands an instrument full of intelligence, to 
accomplish all that he prescribes. 

** You are permitted, however, in certain 
cases, to humbly and deferentially represent 
an objection, but it must always be with the 
intention not to persist, but to act afterward 
according to the will of your director, when 
he shall have heard your objection. 

'* In acting thus, My daughter, your con- 
duct will be irreproachable, your conduct 
will be full of merit, and you will obtain the 
recompense which I have promised to those 
who hear My word, I will come to you and 
I will make My abode with you." 



244 Appendix, 

It was thus the Saviour Jesus told me to 
act toward my director. 

I do not know whether I have acted thus m 
all circumstances ; but my most earnest de- 
sire is always to conform myself to this teach- 
ino". 

"Ves, I wish to submit in all things to what 
it will please you to counsel or command 
me. I wish to have no other will but yours. 

In regard to the frankness or simplicity with 
which I make known to you all that passes 
within me, I assure you that my serious in- 
tention is to conceal nothing from you, and 
if I do not tell you all, it is because I have 
forgotten it. 



^Epistle of St. Ignatius on Obedience. 

''Ignatius of Loyola to the Brethren of the 
Society of Jesus who are in Portugal, wishes 
grace and love everlasting in Christ our Lord. 

** I. It is a cause of great comfort to me, 
most dear Brethren in Christ, when I hear it 
reported with what earnest desire and en- 
deavor you strive to attain to the highest 
perfection of all virtue and piety, by His 
favor Who, as He has called you to this 
kind of life, so in His mercy keeps you in 
the same, and directs you to that blessed 
end whereunto those that are chosen by 
Him do arrive. 



* We reproduce here this beautiful letter of St. Ignatius as 
we find it in the Book of Rules of the Society of Jesus. 

Being little known in communities, we have thought proper 
to add it to our work. Ponder it well, and it will cause you 
to appreciate " Spiritual Dirfxtion," which is simply the 
submission of our judgment and our will to the judgment and 
will of a person who acids God's place to us, and to whom God 
Himself has said : " He that heareth you heareth Me, and he 
that despiseth you despiseth Me. " 



246 Epistle of St, Ignatius on Obedience, 

'^2. And truly, though I wish you to be 
perfect in all spiritual gifts and ornaments, 
yet especially do I desire (as you have un- 
derstood of me heretofore) to see you most 
eminent in the virtue of Obedience ; and this 
not only for the excellent and singular fruits 
thereof v^^hich are proved by many testi- 
monies of Holy Writ, and by examples both 
in the Old and New Testament ; but also 
because as St. Gregory (L. 35, c. 10) says : 
' Obedience is the only virtue that plants all 
other virtues in the mind, and preserves them 
after they are once planted. ' As long as 
this virtue shall flourish, all others doubtless 
will flourish and bring forth such fruits in 
your hearts as I desire and He, with good 
reason, requires ; Who, by His salutary obe- 
dience, redeemed mankind when afflicted 
and destroyed through the crim.e of disobedi- 
ence, becoming obedient unto death, even 
to the death of the cross. — Philip, ii, 8. 

" 3. More easily may we suffer ourselves 
to be surpassed by other Religious Orders in 
fasting, watc^ *ng, and other severities in diet 
and apparel, which, according to their insti- 
tute and rale, every one of them does piously 
practice ; but in true and perfect Obedience 
and the abnegation of our will and judg- 
ment, I greatly desire, most dear brethren, 



Epistle of Si. Ignatius on Obedience, 247 

that those who serve God in this Society 
should be conspicuous, and that the true and 
genuine progeny of the same should, as it 
were, be distinguished by this mark, that they 
regard not the individual whom they obey; 
but in him, Christ our Lord, for whose 
love they obey. For the Superior is not to 
be obeyed because he is prudent, or virtuous, 
or excels in any other divine gift, whatsoever 
it be ; but for this only, that he is in the 
place of God, and has authority from Him 
who says : 'He that heareth you heareth 
Me ; arid he that despiseth you despiseth Me/ 
— Lukex, 16. Neither, on the other hand, 
if he be wanting in understanding or pru- 
dence, is he therefore to be the less obeyed in 
that wherein he is Superior ; since he repre- 
sents Him Whose Wisdom cannot be deceiv- 
ed, and Who will supply whatsoever shall be 
wanting in Flis substitute, whether it be virtue 
or other qualities. Wherefore, Christ our 
Lord, when He had said in express and open 
terms : ' The Scribes and Pharisees have sitten 
upon the chair of Moses \ presently added : 
* all things therefore whatsoever they shall 
say to you, observe and do ; but according to 
their works do ye not/ — St. Matt, xxiii, 2. 

''4. Wherefore I desire that you should 
earnestly endeavor with all care and diligence 



248 Epistle of St. Ignatius on Obedience. 

to acknowledge Christ in every Superior, 
and with great devotion, reverence and obey 
in him the divine Majesty. This will seem 
to you less strange, if you consider how the 
Apostle St. Paul commands us to obey even 
secular Superiors and Gentiles as Christ 
Himself, from whom all well-ordered au- 
thority is derived, for thus he writes to the 
Ephesians : ' Be obedient to them that are 
your temporal lords according to the flesh, 
with fear and trembling, in the simplicity of 
your heart, as to Christ, not serving to the eye 
as It were pleasing men; but as the servants of 
Christ, doing the will of God from the heart ; 
with a good will serving as to the Lord and 
not to men/ And from this you yourself may 
judge what account in his heart a religious 
man ought to make of his Superior to whom 
he has given himself to be ruled and gov- 
erned, not only as to a Superior, but express- 
ly as to one that has the place of Christ :— 
whether he should look on him as man, or 
as the Vicar of Christ. 

*' 5. Moreover, I desire that this should be 
thoroughly understood and deeply imprint- 
ed in your minds that it is but a base and 
very imperfect kind of Obedience which con- 
sists in the external execution only of that 
which is commanded ; and that it is not 



Epistle of St. Ignatius on Obedience, 249 

worthy of the name of virtue, unless it pass 
to a further degree, making the will of the 
Superior our will, and so agreeing with the 
same that not only is there external fulfil- 
ment of the command, but also agreement 
of will ; that so both may be of one mind 
in willing and not willing the same. And 
for this reason it is said in Holy Writ : 
^Obedience is better than sacrifices.'— i 
Kings XV, 22. For as St. Gregory teaches us, 
' In victims, the flesh of another, but in. 
obedience, our own will is killed.' And be- 
cause this part of the soul is so excellent, 
hence it is that the offering of it to our Lord 
and Creator, through Obedience, is of great 
price and value. 

''6. It is then a very great and dangerous 
mistake, not only in those who imagine that 
they are not obliged to obey in things ap- 
pertaining to flesh and blood, but also in 
those who persuade themselves that they can 
deviate from the will of the Superior in things 
otherwise very holy and spiritual, as fasting, 
prayer, or other good works. Let them give 
ear to what Cassian prudently remarks in 
the conference of Daniel the Abbot, saying : 
* It is one and the self-same kind of disobe- 
dience, whether in earnestness of labor, or 
from desire of ease, one breaks the command 



250 Epistle of SL Ignatius on Obedience. 

of the Superior, and as prejudicial to go 
against the statutes of the Monastery out of 
sloth, as out of watchfulness ; and finally, it 
IS as much to transgress the precept of the 
Abbot by reading, as to contemn it by sleep- 
ing/ Holy was the action of Martha, holy 
the contemplation of Mary Magdalen, and 
holy the penance and tears wherewith she wa- 
tered the feet of Christ our Lord; but all this 
was to be done in Bethania, which word is 
interpreted, the house of Obedience, whereby 
our Lord would signify to us, as St. Bernard 
says, that * neither the endeavor of good 
works, nor the quiet of contemplation, nor 
the tears of the penitent, could have been 
grateful unto Him out of Bethania/* 

'' 7- Wherefore, most dear Brethren, cast 
off wholly, as far as you can, your own wills ; 
deliver freely, and dedicate to your Creator 
m His substitute, the freedom He has be- 
stowed upon you. Consider it no little ad- 
vantage of your free will that you are able 
to give it back fully, through Obedience, to 
Him from whom you received it And by 
so doing you not only do not lose the same, 
but rather increase and perfect it ; since by 
this means you direct all your wills by that 

* Serm. ad Milit. Tempi, c. 13. 



Epistle of St Ignatius on Obedience, 251 

most certain rule of rectitude, the will of 
God interpreted unto you by him who in 
place of God governs you. 

*' 8. And for this reason, you must always 
be very careful that you never seek to wrest 
the Superior's will (which you ought to hold 
for the will of God Himself) unto your own: 
for this would be, not to conform your will 
unto God's, but to endeavor to rule His will 
by yours, inverting the order of His Divine 
Wisdom. Oh ! how great an error it is, and 
one which belongs to such as self-love has 
blinded, to account themselves obedient, 
when by some means or other they have 
brought the Superior to that which they de- 
sire. Listen to St, Bernard, a man emi- 
nently experienced in this matter : ^ Whoso- 
ever, ' says he, ' endeavors either openly or 
covertly to have his spiritual Father enjoin 
him what he himself desires, deceives him- 
self, if he flatters himself that he is a true 
follower of obedience ; for in that he does 
not obey his Superior, but rather the Super- 
ior obeys him\* It follows, therefore, that 
whosoever is desirous of the virtue of Obedi- 
ence must necessarily attain to this second 
degree so as not only to fulfil the Superior's 

*Serm. de trib. Ordin. Eccl. 



252 Epistle of SL Ignatius on Obedience, 

command, but to make also the Superior s 
will his own will, or rather, to put off his 
own will, that he may put on the will of 
God declared to him by his Superior. 

" 9. But he that will wholly sacrifice 
himself to God, besides his will, must also 
offer up his understanding (which is the 
third and highest degree of obedience) ; that 
he may not only will but also think the 
self-same with his Superior ; and submit his 
own judgment unto him, so far as a devout 
will can bend the understanding. For 
though this power of the soul has that free- 
dom wherewith the will is endowed, and 
by nature itself is drawn to assent to what- 
soever is represented unto it as true, yet 
nevertheless, in many things, in which the 
evidence of the known truth does not force it, 
it may, by the strength of the will, be inclin- 
ed more one way than another. When 
these things happen, whosoever professes 
Obedience must submit himself to the 
judgment of the Superior. For obedience, 
being a holocaust, in which the whole man, 
nothing at all excepted, is offered up unto 
his Creator and Lord in the fire of charity 
through the hands of his substitute, and as 
it is also a full renunciation, in which a re- 
ligious man freely yields up all his own 



Epistle of St. Ignatius on Obedience, 253 

rights to dedicate and bind himself to God, 
to be possessed and governed by His di- 
vine Providence by means of his Superior ; 
it cannot be denied that Obedience com- 
prehends not only the execution, so that 
the person do that which is commanded, 
and the will, so that he do it willingly, but 
also the judgment, that whatsoever the Su- 
perior commands and thinks good, seem just 
and reasonable to the inferior, so far, as I 
have said, as the will by its force and vigor 
can bend the understanding. 

'' 10. Would that this obedience of the 
understanding and judgment were as much 
understood and put in practice by men, as it 
is grateful to God, and necessary for all 
those who live in Religion. For as in the 
celestial bodies and globes, to the end that 
one may receive motion and influence from 
the other, it is necessary that, with certain 
conformity and order, the inferior globe be 
subject to the superior ; so amongst men, 
when one is moved by another's authority (as 
happens in obedience) it is necessary that 
he who depends upon another be subject 
and subordinate, to the end that he may re- 
ceive some virtue and influence from him 
who commands. Now this kind of sub- 
jection and obedience can in no wise stand 



2 54 Episile of St. Ignatius on Obedience, 

unless the will and judgment of the inferior 
agree with the will and judgment of the 
Superior. 

''II. Moreover, if we regard the end and 
intention of Obedience as our will, so 
our judgment may be deceived as to what 
is good to us ; wherefore if, lest our will 
should stray, we conform it to the will of the 
Superior, our understanding is also to be 
ruled by his, to the end it may not err : 
* Lean not upon thy own prudence/ — Prov. 
iii, 5, — says the Holy Scripture. And even, 
in worldly matters, those who are wise, judge 
it to be the part of a prudent man not to 
trust his own wisdom, especially in his own 
cause, in which, when the mind is troubled, 
one can hardly be a good judge. And if, 
in matters concerning ourselves, we are to 
prefer the judgment and counsel of another, 
who is not our .own Superior, before our 
own, how much more the counsel and judg- 
ment of the Superior to whom we have 
yielded ourselves to be directed, as to one 
who is in place of God and interpreter of 
His divine will. And certain it is that in spir- 
itual matters and persons, so much the more 
heed is to be taken, as the danger of a spir- 
itual course is greater when one runs along 
therein without the bridle of counsel and 



Epistle of St. Ignatius on Obedience. 255 

discretion. Wherefore Cassian, in the con- 
ference of Abbot Moses, says : ' By no 
other way does the devil draw a monk 
headlong and bring him to death sooner, 
than by persuading him to neglect the 
counsel of the Elders and trust to his own 
judgment and determination/ (Coll. ii, 11.) 
** 12. Moreover, unless we have this Obe- 
dience of our understanding, it is impossible 
that either the consent of our will or the ex- 
ecution, will be such as they ought to be, for 
nature itself has so ordained tuat the con- 
cupiscible power of the soul must follow the 
apprehensive, and the will without violence 
cannot long obey against the understanding. 
And if there be any who for some time obey, 
induced by that common apprehension, that 
obey they must, though commanded amiss, 
yet doubtless this cannot be firm and con- 
stant, and so perseverance fails, or at least 
the perfection of Obedience which consists 
m obeying promptly and with alacrity, for, 
there can be no alacrity and diligence 
where there is discord of minds and opin- 
ions. Then perish that zeal and speed 
in performing, when we doubt whether it be 
expedient or not to do what we are com- 
manded ; then perishes that renowned sim- 
plicity of blind obedience, when we call, in 



256 Epistle of St, Ignatius on Obedience, 

question the justice of the command, and 
perhaps, even we condemn the Superior, 
because he bids us to do such things as are 
not very pleasing unto us : then fails humil- 
ity ; for although on the. one> hand we obey, 
yet on the other we prefer- ourselves before 
our Superior, then fails fortitude in difficult 
enterprises, and (to conclude in brief) the 
whole force and dignity of this virtue, are lost 
And in place thereof, there arise; pain, 
trouble, reluctance, weariness, murmurings, 
excuses and other vices of no small moment, 
by which the value and merit of Obedience are 
wholly destroyed. Wherefore St. Bernard, 
of those who take it ill when things are 
enjoined that seem somewhat hard unto 
them, speaks as follows : * If you begin to 
grieve at this, to judge your Superior, to 
murmur in your heart, though outwardly 
you fulfil what is commanded, yet this is not 
the virtue of patience, but a cloak of your, 
malice.'* And if peace and tranquillity 
of mind are desired, he certainly shall never 
acquire them who has within himself the 
cause of his disquiet and trouble, to wit, the 
disagreeing of his own judgment from the 
law of Obedience. 

* Serm. 3, de Circumci.s. 



Epistle of SL Ignatius on Obedience, 257 

^^3. And therefore, for the maintaining 
of union, which is the bond of every society, 
ihe Apostle so earnestly exhorts all=^ to think 
and say the same thing, that by the agreeing 
of their wills and judgments they may be 
mutually comforted and sustained. Now, if 
there must be one and the self-same senti- 
ment between the members and the head, 
you may easily judge whether it is more just 
that the head should yield to the members or 
the members unto the head. It is plain then» 
by what has hitherto been said, that this obe- 
dience of the understanding is necessary. 

**i4. But how perfect the same is in itself 
and how pleasing to God, we may gather by 
this : First, because thereby the most excel- 
lent and precious part of man is consecrated 
unto Him : secondly, because the obedient 
man is by this means made a living holocaust 
most grateful to His Divine Majestv, keep- 
ing nothing whatever to himself : lastly, by 
reason of the great difficulty of the combat ; 
for the obedient man overcomes himself for 
the love of God, and resists that natural in- 
clination which all men have to embrace and 
follow their own opinions. Hence, there- 
fore, it follows that Obedience, though its 
proper fruitseems to be to perfect the will.in- 

* Rom. XV. 51. I Cor. i. lo. 2. Cor. xxii, n. Philip, ii, i* 



255 Epistle of St, rgnafi'us on Obedience, 

asmuch as it makes it prompt and ready at 
I he beck of the Superior, yet it must belong 
also to the understanding, as we have de- 
clared, and bring it to be of the self-same 
opinion in all things with the Superior, that 
all the forces of the will and understanding 
being united together, we may fulfil what 
is commanded with all speed and integrity. 

''15. It seems to me, most dear brethren, 
I hear you say, that you now no longer 
doubt of the necessity of this virtue, but that 
you earnestly desire to know how you may 
attain to the perfection thereof. To this 
question I answer with St. Leo: 'Nothing 
is difficult unto the humble, and nothing 
hard unto the meek: ' so that if you want 
not humility nor mildness, assuredly God 
will not be wanting in His goodness to help 
you to perform that which you have prom- 
ised Him, not only patiently but also will- 
ingly. 

"16. Moreover, three things I will lay 
down unto you, which will greatly further 
you in the attainment of this obedience of 
your understanding. The first is, that, as 
I said in the beginning, you do not behold 
in the person of your Superior a man sub- 
ject to errors, and miseries, but Christ Him- 
self, Who is the highest Wisdom, Immeasur- 



Epistle of Si, Ignatius on Obedience, 259 

able Goodness, and Infinite Charity, who 
neither can be deceived, nor will deceive 
you. And because you are conscious within 
yourselves that you have undergone this 
yoke of Obedience for the love of God, to 
the end that you might, in following the Su- 
perior's will, more assuredly follow ihe Divine 
Will, doubt not but the most faithful charity 
of our Lord continually directs you, and 
leads you the right way, by the hands of 
those whom He has given you for Superiors. 
Wherefore, hear their voice, no otherwise 
than if it were the voice of Christ, seeing 
that the Apostle, writing to the Colossians 
and exhorting subjects to obey their lords, 
says as follows : * Whatsoever you do, do it 
from the heart, as to the Lord and not to 
ma'i, knowing that you shall receive of the 
Lord the reward of inheritance ; serve ye the 
Lord Christ/* And St. Bernard, ' Whether 
God, or man His substitute, commands any- 
thing, we must obey with equal diligence, 
and perform it with like reverence, when, 
however, man commands nothing that is 
contrary to God. ' f And thus if you do 
not look upon man with the eyes of the 
body, but upon God with those of the soul, it 

*Col. iii. 23. 

tTract. de Praccep. and Dispen. C. xii. 



2 6o Epistle of Si, Ignatius on Obedience. 

will certainly be hard to conform your 
will and judgment to that rule which you 
yourselves have chosen. 

" 1 7. Another means is that you always se- 
riously endeavor to defend within yourselves, 
that which your Superior commands or 
thinks good, but never to disapprove of it. 
And to this it will help to be well affected 
towards whatsoever he shall command ; 
whereby you shall not only obey without 
trouble, but even with joy and pleasure. 
For as St. Leo says, ' It is not hard to serve 
where we love that which is commanded/* 
*' 18, The last means to subject your un- 
derstanding both more easily and securely, 
and also in use among the holy Fathers, is 10 
determine within yourselves whatsoever the 
Superior commands, to be the command- 
ment and will of Almighty God Himself ; 
and as in order to believe what the Catholic 
Faith proposes, you at once bend all the 
forces of your mind to consent thereunto, so 
in doing that which your Superior commands, 
you must be carried with a kind of blind 
impulse of your will desirous to obey. So 
it is thought Abraham did when he was or- 
dered to sacrifice his son Isaac ; f so, under 

* Serm. 4 de jejun sep. mensiij. 
t Gen, XXI I. 



Epistle of St. Ignatius on Obedience, 261 

the new law, did some of those holy Fathers 
whom Cassian speaks of, as John the Abbot,* 
who did not question whether that which he 
was commanded to do was profitable or not, 
as when, with such great and continued labor, 
for a year together he watered a dry stick ; 
nor whether it could be done or not, as 
when he endeavored so earnestly to move 
a huge rock, which many men together 
could not have stirred. 

This kind of Obedience we see sometimes 
confirmed by miracle. For, to say nothing 
of others, whom you yourselves are not 
ignorant of, Maurus, St. Benedict's disciple,f 
going by command of his Superior into 
a lake, did not sink. Another being bid by 
his Superior to bring a lioness to him, took 
hold of her and brought her unto him. 

Wherefore this manner of subjecting our 
own judgment so as, without questioning, 
to sanction and approve within ourselves 
whatever the Superior commands, is not 
only a common practice among holy men, 
but also to be imitated by all who are de- 
sirous of perfect Obedience in all things, 
in which manifestly there appears no sin. 

*'' 19. Neither are you hindered by this, if 

* L. 4. C. XXXIV and xvi. 
t Greg. 2 Dial. C. vii. 



262 Epistle of St. Ignatius on Obedience, 

anything occurs to you different from the 
Superior's opinion, and it seems (after you 
have commended the same humbly to God) 
that it ought to be declared, from proposing 
it unto him : wherein lest self-love and your 
own judgment should deceive you, this pre- 
caution is to be taken, that you remain most 
indifferent, before and after you have made 
the proposition, not only as to undertaking 
or relinquishing the matter of which there 
is question, but also as to approving and 
thinking better whatsoever seems good to the 
Superior, 

^ ' 20. And this which I have said of Obe- 
dience, is equally to be observed by every 
private person towards his immediate Super- 
ior, and by the Rectors and local Superiors 
towards the Provincials and by the Provin- 
cials towards the General and by the Gener- 
al towards him whom God has placed over 
him, to wit, His Vicar upon earth ; to the 
end that thus a perfect distinction of degrees, 
and consequently peace and charity, may be 
preserved ; without which the right of gov- 
ernment, neither of our Society, nor of any 
other congregation can be maintamed. And 
this kind of proceeding the Divine Provi- 
dence uses, in disposing all things sweetly, 
and bringing them to their appointed ends. 



Episile of St. Ignatius on Obedience. 263 

the lowest by the middlemost, and the mid- 
dlemost by the highest. Whence also flows 
that SLibordmauon in Angels or one Choir 
towards another, and that perfect har- 
mony of the celestial bodies and all things 
which are moved, each in its own deter- 
mined place and position, whose resolu- 
tions and motions proceed orderly from one 
Supreme mover by degrees unto the low- 
est. The same we see upon earth, as well 
in all well-ordered commonwealths, as most 
of all in the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy, whose 
members and functions are all derived 
from one General Vicar of Christ our Lord ; 
and, by how much the more exactly this dis- 
position and order are kept, by so much 
the whole government is better ; and on the 
other hand, by the neglect hereof, what 
grievous damages have befallen various Con- 
gregations, there is no one who does not 
see. And therefore, in this Society whereof 
our Lord has delivered unto me some charge 
and care, I desire that this virtue should 
be practised as diligently and flourish as 
perfectly, as if the whole good and safety of 
our Society depended hereon. 

*'2i. Wherefore, that where my epistle 
began, there it may also end, I most earnest- 
Iv beseech you for Christ our Lord's sake 



264 Epistle of St. Ignatius on Obedience, 

Who gave Himself unto us not only as a 
Master but as an example of Obedience, 
that you will bend all your forces to the 
attaining of this virtue ; and that desirous 
and greedy of so glorious a victory, you 
will endeavor to overcome yourselves, that 
is, to conquer and subdue the most ex- 
cellent and difficult part of your soul, your 
will, I say, and understanding ; and to the 
end that the true and solid knowledge and 
love of God Almighty our Lord may draw 
you wholly unto Him, and rule and govern 
you in the whole course of this life and 
pilgrimage, until at length He bring you, 
and many others assisted by your help and 
example, to the last and most happy end 
of bliss everlasting. 

"I commend myself most earnestly to 
God in your prayers. 

'' From Rome^ the 26th of March, 1553." 



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on a ioose sheet of heavy paper, and accompany each vol- 
ume, serving the purpose of a book-irsrk. ^ 

In connection with the above, we have issued an excellent 

METHOD OF HEARIf^G MASS, 

of a form suitable for inserting in prayer-books. It is exten- 
sively circulated in Europe, m the academies and colleges. 
Price, 50 cents per 100. 

BENZIGER BROTHERS, New Yorki Cincinnati, and St. Louis. 



S£JirTPR£E By MAIL, ON RECEIPT OF PRICh. 

PEARLS FROIVI THE CASKET 

OF THE 

Sacred Heart of Jesus. 

A COLLECTION OF THE 
OF THE 

Blessed Margaret Marjlkoque, 

Religious of the Order of the Visitation. 



EDITED W? 



ELEANOR C. DOMHELLY. 



/ consiituie thee heir of My Heart, and of all Its 
treastires for time and eternity, permitting thee to use 
them according to thy desire. I promise thee that thou 
s.uilt never want assistance until I shall fail in power 
Thou Shalt be forever lis beloved disciple, the delight of 
^ts predilection, and the holocaust of Its /^z'^. "-Words 
OF Our Lord to Blessed Margaret Mary. 



32mo, 192 pages. Cloth, red edges, gilt side, 50 cents. 



BENZIGER BROTHERS, New York, Cincinnati, and St Loufe. 



Sent free by mail, on receipt of prUa 



THE IMITATION 

OF THE 

Sacred Heart of Jesus. 

Bv Rev. F. ARNOUDT, SJ. 

TRANSLATED FROM THE LATIN OF REV, J. M. FASTRH. 

12m0y 798 pages, extra cloth, $2, 00. 



This delightful book contains ample matter for daily medita- 
tion throughout the year. The reader can start from the be- 
ginning and continue to the end of the work, or he may break 
ihis order and confine himself to such portions as are specially 
•adapted to his feelings at the time, ^ Things are not proposed 
>ere in general and in common, as is usually done in books of 
meditation, but everything is laid down specially and in parti- 
<o)ar, both in regard to the evil to be avoided, and the good to 
DC practiced. I'he book greatly resembles the *' Imuaiion of 
Cferist/' to which it is a fitting companion, but it is more regu- 
lar in plan, more complete, actual, definite. The style o! 
the woxk is everywhere suited to the subject, and the diction ia 
pure 



The Hidden Treasure ; 

OR, THE VALUE AND EXCELLENCE OF 
WITH A 

l^raciicai and Devout Method of Hearing it with Profit 

Bv The Blessed Leonard of Port-Maurice. 
ISmo, 188 pages, cloth, 40 cents. 

BENZI6ER BROTHERS, New York, Cincinnati, and St. iouis. 



Names That Live 

• IN CATHOLIC HEARTS : 

Memoirs of Cardinal Ximenes — Michael Angelo — Samuel 

de Champlain — Archbishop Plunkett — Charles CarroU 

— Henri Larochejacquelein — Simon de Montfoi^- 

By Miss A'E^i T. SADLIER. 
12mo, c!oth, $1.00. 

^^A book worth reading and keeping to read over again. It 

is good for us to be told of the illustrious dead who were 
loyal to the Mother Church — the long line of Saints, Sages, 
Statesmen, Explorers and Scientists, who with all their 
greatness, were as little children at the footstool of God; 
and in this book we are reminded of some of these heroes 
to whom fame has builded a monument more enduring 
than brass, but whose highest claim to our admiration is. 
the virtue which has placed an aureola of glory about their 
brow." — Catholic Mirror. 

** No more delightful reading can be placed in the hands of 
young people, or even adults, than this volume of Bio- 
graphical Essays." — T/ie Pilot. 

' ' Each of these delightful memoirs is a prose poem written 
in faultless style, fair and beautiful as a painting by a 
master hand inserted in a jeweled setting of great value." — 
Lawrence, Mass., Catholic Herald. 

'' Every word in it is calculated to lift the reader's heart 
nearer to truth, holiness and \\^x^\%m,^^— Morning Star. 

'^ The live3 of such men as these — whose characters were 
formed on true models — will remind the reader that he can 
make his life sublime in the best sense." — Western Home 
Journal. 

*' The lives of the great Catholic heroes it embraces are 
brought before us in graphic, living words, and leave on OUf 

minds a pleasing and interesting picture."— A^. Y. Tablets 

*' Miss Sadlier paints her pictures in brilliant colors, and 

while she preserves the accuracy of the historian, glows 

with the enthusiasm of the poet." — Donakoe's Magazine, 

*' The sketches are written by Miss Anna T. Sadlier in 
that lady's usual excellent %\}i\^.^^— Connecticut Catholic. 

" Very attractive and interesting, and must necessarily 
please the reader." — Catholic Visitor. 

BENZIGER BROTHERS. New York, Cincinnati, and St. Looia, 



THE YOUNG GIRL'S 

Book of Piety 

AT SCHOOL AND AT HOME. 

A Prayer-Book for Girls in Convent-Schools and 
Academies, 

BY 

The Author of '' Golden Sands," 



TEAHSLATED FSOM TEE 45th PSENCH EDITION. 



l^oiTored with a Blesshg from the late POPE PIUS IX., 

and approved by many Archbishops and Bishops. 

4126, Cloth _, _. „ ,.. $.80 

4136, French morocco, gilt centre a.-^d edges ...,,..„ 1.35 

4136!, '■'' '* *' " clasp 1.6C 

4147, Turkey morocco,, antique, extra, gilt centre 

and edges 3.25 

4 147 J, Turkey morocco, antique, extra, gilt centre 

and edges and clasp 3.75 

4152, Calf, antique, edges red under gold. 3.50 

4158, Silk velvet, rim and clasp, gilt edges, orn. centre 6.00 
4161, '^ " " " '"'' rich ornaments 8.00 

The Reverend author of this Prayer-book, for many 
years Spiritual Director of a Young Ladies' Academy, and 
who has devoted the best years of his life to the prepara- 
tion of books of instruction for female youth, in this vol- 
ume places his vast experience of human nature at the 
service of young girls in Convent-schools and Academies. 
The result is a book which embraces all that is essential 
for forming their tender hearts to piety and guiding their 
footsteps in the sure path of virtue. Written at the sug- 
gestion of a truly Christian heart, it breathes, from firsi 
to last, a perfume of sweet piety and of grace which ofteq 
recalls the writings of St. Francis de Sales. 

BENZIGEP BROTHERS, New York, Cincinnati, and St. Louis. 



The Imitation of Clirist. 

By Thomas a Kempis. In four books. Trans- 
lated from the original Latin by the Right Rev. 
Richard Chai loner, D.D. 
i3mo, 481 pages. Printed with a Red Border. 

829 Extra cloth, beveled, red edges . |i 25 

2847 Turkey mor., ant. extra, gilt edges 4 00 

2851 " " circuit, gilt edges 500 

2855 Calf, flexible, gilt edges 4 50 

The Imitation of Clirist. 

32mo edition, 481 pages 

2726 Cloth $0 5® 

2729 Extra cloth, beveled, red edges 65 

2736 French mor., gilt centre and edges i 00 

2747 Turkey mor., ant. extra, gilt edges 2 50 

2753 Calf, ant., red edges 2 75 

2755 " flexible, gilt edges 2 75 

Manual of the Sodality 

of the Blessed Virgin Mary. 
Containing the Rules, Privileges, Indulgences, 
and exercises of Piety suitable for all Christians, 
32mo, 613 pages. 

1926 Cloth <^o so 

1929 '' extra, beveled, red edges 75 

1937 French mor., full gilt sides, back, and edges.... i 25 

1947 Turkey mor., extra ant., gilt centre and edges. . 2 50 

1948 " " super, full gilt sides, back, and edg. 2 50 
1956 Calf, flexible, red edges 2 75 

BEIiZIGER BROTHERS, New York, Cincinnati, and St. Louis. 



I«EW PUBLIGATBONS. 

The Monk's Pardon. 

A Historical Rojjiance of the time of 
Philip IV. of Sj>ain. 

Translated from the French of RAOUL DE NAVERY 

By ANNA T. SADLIER 

12mo, cloth, $1.25. 

— o — 
This is one of the best works of perhaps the most popular 
Catholic novelist of France. The plot is strictly historical, 
the style pure, the interest admirably sustained and the 
moral excellent. It needs only to be known to acquire the 
popularity of the original, which has run through many 
editions in France. 



Natalie Narischkin, 

Sister of Charity of St. Yincent of Paul. 

Translated from the French of Mme. AUGUSTUS CRAVEN^ 

By Lady GEORGIANA FULLERTON. 

13mo, cloth, $1.00. 



This book by the author of " A Sister's Story " is the 
biography of a noble Russian girl who becoming a Catho- 
lic, jomed the Sisters of Charity, and devoted her life to 
working and suffering, as one Saint among a thousand 
others, in an institute where heroism is as common as the 
ordinary virtues are elsewhere, and sanctity is the universal 
'■nle. The narrative, enriched with copious extracts from 
her letters and numerous personal anecdotes, is interestinjs; 
and u^'ifying. 

BENZiGER BROTHERS, New York, Cincinnati, and St Louis. 



My First Communion: 

The Happiest Day of My Life. 

A Preparation and Remembrance ^or First Communis 
cants. Translated from the German of Rev. 
J. N. BucHMANN, O.S.B., by Rev, Rich- 
ard Bkennan, LL.D. 

With a Chromo-Frontispiece, and many full-page 
and other Illustrations. Extra cloth, 75 cents. 



APPROBATIOHS. 

From the Right Rev. Bishop of Louisville. 
" * * * It is a chaanning work, one of the best of its 
kind." 

Frojn Right Rev. Bishop of Erie. 

it* * * Admirably calculated both in its style and 
the character of its contents to interest and instruct those 
for whom it is intended, the work should, and I hope will, 
receive a cordial welcome from parents, teachers, pastors, in 
fine all engaged in the training of youth." 

From Right Rev. Bishop of Buffalo. 

''* * * I believe that this 'delightfully interesting 
little volume will be welcomed not only by the children,* but 
by all good Pastors as well, to whom the first Communion of 
their children is one of the happiest and most important 
events of their holy ministry." 

From Right Rev. Bishop of Providence. 
k'* * * I know no other book treating of the Most 
Holy Communion so well adapted to prepare children 
for that Sacrament and to leave wholesome, lasting im- 
pressions on their minds." 

From Right Rev. Bishop of Ogdensburg. 
**Your excellent book ^ My First Communion,' I read 
with interest and edification." 

From Right Rev. Bishop of Monterey and Los Angeles, 
*****! heartily approve it and recommend it to 

our flock and Pastors." 

From Right Rev. Vicar-Apostolic of Northern Minnesota. 
'' May this little book find a large circulation, and assist 

many to fervent and frequent Communions." 

BENZIGER BROTHERS, New York, Cincinnati, and St. Louis. 



BISHOP GILUUVE'S ILLUSTRATED BIBLE HISTORY. 




A LETTER FROM 

His Holiness Pope Leo XHI. 



Sacrorum Bibliorum voiumen et obsequii sensus, 
quos per Episcopum Basiliensem fratres Benziger edi- 
tores Nobis obtulerunt, grato animo excepimus ; eosque 
et eorum operam, ut religioni semper bene vertat, 
Apostolica Benedictione prosequimur. 

LEO P. P. XIII. 



(Translation.) 
We have received with thanks the copy of The 
Bible History, together with the expressions of devo- 
tion, which Benziger Brothers, pubhshers, have sent 
us through the Bishop of Basel, and we give our 
Apostolic Benediction to them and to their labors, that 
2hese may always tend to the good of Religion. 

LEO P. P. Xlli. 



BIBLE HISTORY, 140 Illustrations, 60 cents. 




GREETINGS 



CHRIST-CHILD. 

A Collection of Christmas Poems for the Young, 

EMBELLISHED WITH 89 ILLUSTRATIONS, 
TA.ILPIECES, ETC., ETC. 

Square i6mo, on fine, super-calendered, tinted 
paper, full gilt back and gilt edges, elegant side 
stamp in gold, 50c, 



BENZIGER BROTHERS, New York, Cincinnati, and St, Louis. 




THE I.IFE OF 

OUR LORD AND SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST 

Am OF HIS BLESSED MOTHER. 

Translated and adapted from the original of Rev. L. C. Businger, 

By Rev. RICHARD BRENNAN, LL.D., 

Author of ''A Popular Life of Po^e Pius IX y 

This is the first fully illnstrated work on this subject ever published. 
It has nearly 600 Engravings in the bodv of the text, Chromo-Lit'ho- 
graphs and Fine Plates ; together with a superb Steel Engraving 
of " The Resurrection of Our Lord " (Size 20>^x27 inches), which is 

PRESENTED FREE 

to ©very subscriber. The book is issued in 3S parts at 
25 CENTS EACH, 

ftjtxd sold only by subscription. 



BENZIGER BROTHERS, New York, Cincinnati, and St. Louis. 



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